Artist Tuan Andrew Nguyen creates multimedia installations that blend fact, memory, myth, and mysticism and use lush imagery to draw out these entanglements. By digging deep into archives and collaborating with communities, his projects weave together many voices to reveal other truths about — and strategies of repair from — colonial violence. In this Washington, DC debut, his video work The Island (2017) is shown for the first time with Bidong Spirit I, a sculpted headdress Nguyen created for the film. The titles of both artworks refer to the tiny Malaysian island of Pulau Bidong, a primary destination for Vietnamese escaping by boat after the collapse of South Vietnam in 1975.

Artist Tuan Andrew Nguyen creates multimedia installations that blend fact, memory, myth, and mysticism and use lush imagery to draw out these entanglements. By digging deep into archives and collaborating with communities, his projects weave together many voices to reveal other truths about — and strategies of repair from — colonial violence. In this Washington, DC debut, his video work The Island (2017) is shown for the first time with Bidong Spirit I, a sculpted headdress Nguyen created for the film. The titles of both artworks refer to the tiny Malaysian island of Pulau Bidong, a primary destination for Vietnamese escaping by boat after the collapse of South Vietnam in 1975.