Connecting people through art 

Thao Nguyen Phan’s works draw from the rich and turbulent history of her native country, Vietnam. The exhibition at WIELS – her largest to date – includes three videos accompanied by watercolour paintings: Tropical Siesta (2017), Mute Grain (2019) and Becoming Alluvium (2019). Taking different forms and starting points, these recent projects all explore the agricultural, political and social context of the Vietnamese rurality and countryside. However, Phan’s work transgresses a purely historical or political point of view, to incorporate an interest in literature and language. Through storytelling, fiction, official and unofficial history, it subtly reveals the forgotten and the forgettable in poetic recollections.

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This exhibition is a project of the Han Nefkens Foundation, in collaboration with: Fundació Joan Miró (Barcelona), WIELS (Brussels) and the Chisenhale Gallery (London). On this occasion, Phan’s first monograph will be co-published by the exhibition partners, the Han Nefkens Foundation and Mousse Publishing.

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The film Becoming Alluvium is produced and commissioned by Han Nefkens Foundation in collaboration with the Joan Miró Foundation, Barcelona; WIELS, Brussels; and Chisenhale Gallery, London. Prior to Phan’s exhibition at WIELS, Becoming Alluvium has been exhibited at Joan Miró Foundation, Barcelona (16 November 2019 – 6 January 2020). After WIELS, the same film will be shown at the Chisenhale Gallery, London (26 June – 30 August 2020).