Tentative Project Schedule:
4/21 – Have all material collected to make video
4/29 – Finish Video and Hand Written Journal
5/3 – Finish collecting material for alters
5/5 – Test alter setup and projection and make finishing touches
For my final studio project I want to dissect the practice of ancestral worship within Vietnamese culture as a whole, as well as investigate how the practice has prevailed specifically in the context of contemporary diaspora culture.
I want to create an instillation that consists of two opposing altars and a video projection. One altar will be Catholic, and honor my mother’s family, while the other altar will be Buddhist, and honor my father’s family. The altars will be facing each other, while the projection will be on a wall, and will be able to be viewed in between the altars (refer to sketch).
The video will be a collection of found footage, videos I have taken, recordings of family oral histories regarding deceased family members that are being honored, and audio samplings of Vietnamese prayer. A journalistic book of my viewpoint of these familial stories will also be placed upon each altar, in order to show my personal connection to this issue. I want to create my own “answer” to this topic, instead of speaking for the entirety of the diaspora.
The altars will be traditionally Vietnamese in aesthetics, and will include photos, statues, fruit, and incense. It will be interactive, in which the audience will light incense and place it upon the altar while the video plays continuously.
The purpose of the video is to contradict the aspect of Viet ancestor worship that is meant to glorify the lives of people who have past. The oral histories will reveal the grim aspects of death in my family that are not often acknowledged such as suicide caused by ptsd, drowning while escaping by boat, and being executed.
Examples: