A collaborative work based on war and immigration, we draw from the Cambodian Genocide and the impacts of Agent Orange within the Vietnam War.

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Experiences of hardships in these times are something that both our families have in common. Our medium of choice is charcoal and printed text.

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Language is a primary aspect that was chosen to be a part of this series. It is a combination of Vietnamese and Khmer transcripts which communicate the experiences of struggle from when our families lived in their homeland.

 

Specific use of our mother tongue to retell their story is to represent the difficulties our parents had when they migrated to New Zealand. Knowing only their native language, it is often difficult for them to communicate with local English speakers.

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Included in our series are the aftereffects of the significant events that occurred in Cambodia and Vietnam. The ‘Agent Orange’ chemical delivered traumatic experiences on Vietnam, similar to the effects Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot had on Cambodia.

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The third work is a representation of our parents who have survived through the war and migrated to New Zealand. Two flags, one Vietnamese and one Cambodian are present, associating their identities to their homelands. The two portraits on the top are of Jenny’s parents and the bottom two are of Nicole’s parents.

The canvas towards the far right is of our families migrating to New Zealand.

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Jenny Pham & Nicole Fu.