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Đất Mẹ - Motherland
Collection:CSM Museum & Study Collection
Date: June 2022
Artist: Connie Virdie
Artist: Phuong Tu Pham
Artist: Emma Todd
Artist: Farida Badie
Artist: Jiaqi Mao
Artist: Jimmy Yu
Artist: Natalie Sasiprapa Organ
Artist: Victoria Kosasie
Artist: Kashish Saini
Artist: Losel Yauch
Artist: Eleanor Sanghara
Dimensions:
Duration: 1.4 min
Medium: Digitial audio file
Object number: MISC.2023.1154.CC
DescriptionDescription by the artists: Our exhibition thus forms different alterations of this “home” – a version that is adapted and appropriated, recognising us as the sole subject. Motherland therefore presents an environment resembling a deconstructed house. We have taken foundational, domesticated spaces - the bedroom, the kitchen, the living room - and aligned them with our works and curatorial intentions, occupying this institution as a joint Mother-land.
England, for now, has become our home. A place where our migrant identities, mothers, father and lineages have arrived together to try and mix; a place we fantasised about, searching for academic pursuit; a place meant to offer a ‘better life’. Maybe, some of us will decide to leave this land after having thought it could offer more freedom. A dreamland, a shared land, housing more tenants than it can accommodate. However, this poses the question: will there ever be a place to land? Or will we always be searching for a connection with the culture that is overshadowed by a lingering imperialist nostalgia?
The work we have selected to represent our exhibition is “Đất Mẹ - Motherland”, an audio collage created by Tu Pham that comprises each of us repeatedly chanting “Motherland” in our own respective languages, or the language that is our supposed Motherland. Whilst some speak their ethnic/mother-tongue fluently, others are estranged from it, resulting in mispronunciation and error. With 11 different voice tracks overlap one another in a single sound installation, “Đất Mẹ - Motherland” was the first piece visitors encountered upon entering our exhibition.
England, for now, has become our home. A place where our migrant identities, mothers, father and lineages have arrived together to try and mix; a place we fantasised about, searching for academic pursuit; a place meant to offer a ‘better life’. Maybe, some of us will decide to leave this land after having thought it could offer more freedom. A dreamland, a shared land, housing more tenants than it can accommodate. However, this poses the question: will there ever be a place to land? Or will we always be searching for a connection with the culture that is overshadowed by a lingering imperialist nostalgia?
The work we have selected to represent our exhibition is “Đất Mẹ - Motherland”, an audio collage created by Tu Pham that comprises each of us repeatedly chanting “Motherland” in our own respective languages, or the language that is our supposed Motherland. Whilst some speak their ethnic/mother-tongue fluently, others are estranged from it, resulting in mispronunciation and error. With 11 different voice tracks overlap one another in a single sound installation, “Đất Mẹ - Motherland” was the first piece visitors encountered upon entering our exhibition.