Artist Statement
My artistic practice involves collecting materials such as sand, lint, cat fur, and human hair from urban environments, rural travels, or domestic surroundings. I am drawn to materials that carry traces of life—natural, animal, and human—because they resonate with impermanence and transformation. Each material carries meaning. My work is inspired by my own family history. My paternal ancestors thrived in the textile industry in France, while my maternal grandparents came from more modest backgrounds. My Vietnamese grandfather was a ‘Cong Binh’ (soldier-worker) forcibly recruited by France during WWII. His story, like many others, remained invisible. Through my work, I aim to harmonize both sides of my family's disparate background, erasing boundaries between craft and fine art. Playfully exploring materials that have a voice and influence the process to determine which techniques, like felting, embroidery, or collage, best suit them is central to my approach. My artistic practice involves collecting materials such as sand, lint, cat fur, and human hair from urban environments, rural travels, or domestic surroundings. I am drawn to materials that carry traces of life—natural, animal, and human—because they resonate with impermanence and transformation. Each material carries meaning. My work is inspired by my own family history. My paternal ancestors thrived in the textile industry in France, while my maternal grandparents came from more modest backgrounds. My Vietnamese grandfather was a ‘Cong Binh’ (soldier-worker) forcibly recruited by France during WWII. His story, like many others, remained invisible. Through my work, I aim to harmonize both sides of my family's disparate background, erasing boundaries between craft and fine art. Playfully exploring materials that have a voice and influence the process to determine which techniques, like felting, embroidery, or collage, best suit them is central to my approach.
Abyssal Crescendo embodies the music the ocean can create, with its form resembling that of a guitar, thanks to the arrangement of seashells, thread made from sand, and wood—all natural elements derived from the sea. The red and cream-colored sand threads also evoke the angel of the sea, a creature from the abyss, while the deep blue color suggests the mysterious depths where many species remain undiscovered.