DISCARDED EXHIBITION OF NANA CHEN

Heritage Space proudly introduces ‘DISCARDED’ - a solo photography exhibition of Nana Chen, a Taiwanese artist.

<> OPENING RECEPTION 18:30 - 19:30, 10.03.2018

<> EXHIBITION 11.03.2018 - 25.03.2018

<> VENUE: Heritage Space, Fl.1 Dolphin Plaza Building, 6 Nguyen Hoang St., My Dinh 2, Nam Tu Liem, Hanoi, Vietnam.

<> ARTIST TOUR with Nana Chen registering HERE

Presented in the first solo photography exhibition of Nana Chen in Vietnam, ‘DISCARDED’ (2011- present) is an ongoing photographic project in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where the artist currently resides. Looking at urban change and displacement, DISCARDED seeks to document the debris left behind by inhabitants when they evacuate their domiciles. From these images, one contemplates the remains of once-lived lives amidst the rapid urban transformation.

As a person with a multi-disciplinary interest (architecture, interiors, music, especially undergoing classical instrument training), Nana Chen saw the poetic factor of the abandoned areas of the city. The scene lies in the still loneliness, the invisible quiet motion of the invisible object: the old grimy teddy bear, the mannequin's arms and head rolling in the garden, the colorful straws that might or might not have been in use, the old canvas and curtains fluttering in the wind, the crumbling gypsum plaster on the bare wall and the lonely armchair. Are they the 'malignant tumors' of urban landscapes and ecosystems, as well as the irremovable dust of geographic surface and the inhabited history?

A life full of material and space-time bio some structure is peeled and dissolved into a giant mess. But they cannot and do not self-transform and disappear easily - because of the unnatural and hard-to-decompose nature of the material - so they stay there, become entities that are no longer accepted, exiled into oblivion. The wall, pieces of cloth, curtain, teddy bear, armchair have been handled, grasped, touched, existed in behavior, dreams, memories, are an organic part of material life and belong in somebody's consciousness. Could it be that humans have been sentenced to exile part of their own memory?

The images that seem unrewarding, meaningless reveal part of a dark corner, some blurred region of the urban vignette, and the vast empty space of the contemporary human mind.

NANA CHEN

* About NANA CHEN:

Nana Chen is a Taipei-born photographer whose work has been published in The Observer, AFP, Marie Claire, Esquire, D-la Repubblica, SCMP and many others. Her photographic prints are collected and featured in leading publications internationally. Chen is currently based in Ho Chi Minh City after a nomadic life in Buenos Aires, Santiago, Atlanta, Copenhagen, Bangkok and other places. Her recent projects include an ongoing portrait series of Thai transgender women in mainstream occupations, “Nocturne”: Bangkok’s Chinatown at rest; "Chungking Mansions: the last ghetto in Hong Kong" and a portrait series on Vietnam's billionaire women. Chen's photographic subjects include themes of identity, displacement, and subcultures. A classically trained violinist, Chen’s passions include architecture, interiors, and music. She currently divides her time between Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, and Europe.