The sand images are from the artist's family photo collection, more specifically from her great-grandfather, Nguyễn Khương (1894-1974), that she inherited. Traditional Buddhist mandalas symbolize the entire universe and are painstakingly laborious to complete in order to be subsequently destroyed. In the same way, the artist sees memories and family photographs to have a similar ephemeral quality. This artwork aims to be a site where micro-stories meet larger narratives, in a fragile and fleeting way. Therefore, these sand depictions only exist for the duration of the exhibition to be brushed away once the show is over.
Performance, Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography, Toronto, June 1 2019