Hope? Check.

Mein Leben als Künstler:in (20): In der letzten Kolumne dieser Serie schreibt die Fotografin Thi My Lien Nguyen über die Bedeutung von Hoffnung für ihre Arbeit – und ihr Leben. (Lesedauer: ca. 2 Minuten)

I’m currently writing this text while in São Paulo. Sitting on my hotel bed, trying to figure out what I can tell you about my everyday life as an artist. This text will be my last one (for now?) here at thurgaukultur. 

My work is currently exhibited at the 22nd Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil, among works of other 60 artists and collectives from the Global South. For the opening week, we all got invited to São Paulo, to come together, get to know each other and participate in the rich public programme.

It is my first time attending this kind of international biennial – as a participating artist at least. It has been a joyful ride packed with many learnings. (Mostly technical and cultural things though.) I guess, there are firsts for everything, right?

Numbers far too big to grasp

Being here seems surreal and I realize once again that time is an essence for experiencing true connections. Time to process and digest within the many experiences one makes. São Paulo is one of the largest cities in the world, the largest in Latin America. Somehow I can’t wrap my head around it, these enormous numbers and facts are just too big and too distant to be able to really grasp it with my body. 

This reminds me of a workshop I attended recently in Budapest. (Yes, I have been traveling around quite a bit lately, but believe me, this is not my everyday life.) During that workshop the speaker threw all kinds of facts at us, mainly about the current climate change discussion. Numbers and numbers about our consumption, behavior, mass extinctions, statistics about our (very short) future and all of that… Oh and believe me, I’m all for it to discuss these very important topics, but it is another thing to sit in an audience and be thrown these enormous numbers at. I think this kind of method brings a feeling of hopelessness, one feels overwhelmed and maybe even helpless. 

dark and gloomy energy has never helped anyone

So, my question is rather, how to create a discussion around these heavy topics without having people signing off emotionally during the process? Filling a space with dark and gloomy energy has never helped anyone. I know, filling it with bright sparkly stars instead is not the solution. 

But we don’t have to see everything in right and wrong, black and white. It is not the aim to ignore these heavy discussions, we have to look and face them sincerely. In my opinion, we need hope (amongst many other things), through listening, empathy through true connections and at least a sprinkle of joy and fun. Realizing this makes me feel at ease, it makes me optimistic, especially in the arts, knowing that most of us want to listen, to discover, to discuss, to have fun. And most importantly, we want to share this with an audience. 

The same common goal

So, in the end, the fact that I am sitting on a hotel bed in the midst of huge São Paulo is a blessing, because I get to share this with not only people from Switzerland and the Central European art scene, but with a much larger context, hearing their views and stories, exchanging on our experiences and even struggles and finally realizing, we all have the same common goal – to create a place where we’re proud of to be part in. Hope? Check. 

This was my last contribution to this series. If you liked my writing, are interested in my projects and doings or just want to support me: I’m sending out weekly-ish letters about exactly that. You can subscribe here. Thank you!