Phuong Ngo

Loss in the Aftermath combines photography and installation to explore the loss that is still felt several generations into the Vietnamese diaspora. Statistics are released after every war, a representation of totality at the conclusion of a conflict – a roll call of dollars, damage and deaths. Loss in the Aftermath takes this economic assessment and extends it by examining the ongoing and inherited trauma, through postwar displacement and loss. Following the fall of Saigon in 1975, two million people fled Vietnam as boat people; of these, an estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 perished at sea. Expanding on earlier projects, this work examines feelings of loss that endure in a post-conflict environment.

Phuong Ngo’s practice is concerned with the interpretation of history, memory and place and how it impacts both individual and collective identity.