The Silent Lake project
BẤT – PHÂN – THÂN
Opencall exhibition – Introducing 3 young artists: Lê Phi Long – Ngô Đình Bảo Châu – Thành Vinh
Opencall exhibition – Introducing 3 young artists: Lê Phi Long – Ngô Đình Bảo Châu – Thành Vinh
Special thanks to: Nhà Sàn Collective /Curated: Vu Duc Toan /Assistant : Phong Nguyen/ Nhà Sàn Collective team
Opening: 6 p.m. Saturday, 21st, November 2015 Hanoi Creative City, 1 Luong Yen,Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi, Vietnam
event : https://www.facebook.com/events/945142282235881
Opening: 6 p.m. Saturday, 21st, November 2015 Hanoi Creative City, 1 Luong Yen,Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi, Vietnam
event : https://www.facebook.com/events/945142282235881
The
Silent Lake project
The beginning of 2015 fall was the time for examining the next
location according to the Dioxins map in Vietnam war, which is Bien Hung lake,
located in Bien Hoa, Dong Nai in the south of Vietnam. Blue lake under
sunlight, green trees, newly constructed park with sites specified for
entertainment, couples enjoying themselves on those duck paddle boats with
music from the water orchestra, the sound of children laughing in the colorful
theme park, the bustle of people on culinary shopping street on a Saturday
night. I stored in my computer a picture named “Happy day” of a young couple
shooting their wedding photographs at the park. It feels like a humiliation on
those people who are trying to make their living everyday, cherishing peace and
happiness. This joyful reality seems almost like a strange ornament in a
picture of a chosen land for a cultural center, which should be viewed
carefully under a neutral perspective and examined by the objectivity of time.
I’m like an outsider, trying to follow a story objectified by a large amount of
information from scientific researches of this land, from the Ranch Hand
operation, the exposure levels of dioxin in ecosystems and human bodies,
problems passed down through generations.
The more I research, the more I find it hard, broad and need so
much patience. The information from field surveys seems so powerful they can
swallow me up and destroy reality. All the contradictions were exposed like a
joke, a tantalization.
Bien Hung lake is located next to the airport in Bien Hoa city,
Dong Nai which used to be a gathering place for the large storages of herbicide
for the Operation Ranch Hand in the total operation named “Operation Trail
Dust”. During WWII, the US government mandated and provided funding for the
National Science Council to develop a type of chemicals used for the
destruction of paddy fields and crops in Japan (at that time rice was the main
source of food for Japanese). The research resulted in 2,4D and 2,4,5-T (Agent
Orange). However, following the discussion between President Dwight Roosevelt
and his White House Chief of Staff, Admiral William D. Leahy decided not to
employ this chemical in the war against the Japanese; thus Agent Orange was not
used during the Second World War. In the late 1950s, after the British had
succeeded in using 2,4,5
- T trichlorophenoxyacetic to destroy the harvest in
Malaya, US Department of Defense put ARPA (Advanced Research Project
Agency) in charge of developing this chemical for
military purpose. A rather extensive test run took place at Camp Drum, New York
in 1959; the same amount applied later in the Vietnam War. Operation Ranch
Hand--the defoliation initiative to destroy the crops in 1961--played an
indispensable role in the military tactics that the Americans implemented all
over South Vietnam as well as the areas bordering Laos and Cambodia. In the
period from 1961 to 1972, with the aid of the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN), the
American had sprayed approximately 76.9 millions liters of herbicide including
336 kg Dioxin from South Vietnam to Center Vietnam (Hue-Quang Tri). At this
time, herbicide was used to clear the food crops and vegetation cover and thus
to protect the American soldiers from guerrilla attacks. Any agricultural areas
suspected, as an area under the control of the NLF would suffer extermination.
In 1970, during the conference “War Crimes and the American Conscience” in
which dozens of American scholars participated, Galston defined the term
“Ecocide”, result of the four years he had spent researching on herbicide and
protesting against Operation Ranch Hand. The Yale Vietnam Conference 2002 - The
Ecological and Health Effects of the Vietnam War, took place in September 2002,
attracted world’s leading ecologists who examined the latest scientific proofs
and arrived at the conclusion that the US had conducted a chemical warfare of
the largest scale in the history of the human race. The consequences of this
operation have been perturbing the contaminated areas ever since, especially,
the area of Bien Hung lake and the trail of land from the South to Central
Vietnam.
The body of my work based on the locations on the geographic
distribution maps of areas affected by the Ranch Hand operation. Project ‘The
silent lake' focuses on exploring the datas and meaning of the current state of
Bien Hung lake and its wide influence from Bien Hoa province to Ho Chi Minh
city. The work examines the statistics of loss and events, the conflicts
between history and present, in order to recall the different and prolonged
interventions. The arrangement of soil and water together with paintings is the
result of many aspects of Bien Hung lake’s existence taken into consideration.
The main focus of this whole research is to investigate on this existence of
the lake, how dioxin spread in the ecosystems, penetrating into our food chain;
thus affect directly on human health.
The installation ‘Soil and water’
Soil and water were exploited in Bien Hung Lake. The soil was
dried and packaged; the water was put into glass bottles, similar to the
bottles seen in the display of Dioxin fetuses in Tu Du Hospital. Both were
attached with usage information. For me, using soil and water from the
lake brings a sense of directly looking into the problems. Moreover, having
time to witness first hand and touch the objects of exploration was necessary
especially when faced with a huge amount of statistic information and uncertain
efforts to solve the problems. The effort to bring soil and water to Hanoi was
also a way for me to separate these objects of exploration from their original
location to another space to look at them in a more objective perspective.
Mr. BakkodirBurkhanov, UNDP Deputy Country Director in Vietnam
estimated the levels of dioxin contamination in Bien Hoa airbase are hundreds
of times the required levels by national and international standards: ‘Such
levels of dioxin contamination are unique to Viet Nam, especially at Bien Hoa
airbase with a large scale and high levels of dioxin concentration. Contaminated
soil in Bien Hoa has structural characteristics and composition that have not
been reported anywhere else in the world.’ According to Office 33, during
Vietnam war, the American military used Bien Hoa airbase as a main base for
containing herbicides to serve the spraying of toxic chemicals. 98,000
45-gallon barrels of Agent Orange, 45,000 barrels of Agent White, and 16,000
barrels of Agent Blue were stored at this airbase. From December 1969 to March
1970, there were at least 4 major spills occurred in the environment in this
area. Approximately 25,000 liters of Agent Orange and 2,500 Agent White were
released to the Environment. There are usually a system of ponds and lakes
especially for drainage during heavy rains. At the southern border of the Z1
contaminated area, rainwater drainage ditched from the airbase into lake No. 1,
lake No.2, ponds and other aquatic habitats. Lake No. 1 with 6,300-m2 area,
lake No.2 has an area of about 21,000 m2. From lake No.2, rainwater carried
subsequently dioxins to lake Bien Hung 1 and lake Bien Hung 2, then followed
the sewer system to Dong Nai river. This sewer system flowed through a
residential area in Buu Long ward. At the Southwest corner of the Z1 area,
there was also Gate 2 Lake. Contaminated water eventually flowed from this lake
to the nearby field area and corporation 29's. Thus, dioxin continued to
penetrate into aquatic animals and food chain. Fish harvested in these areas
are highly dioxin contaminated and people who eat fish and aquatic animals from
these areas also have high dioxin concentrations in their bodies. For
years, these areas have been strictly protected and prohibited from fishing for
food and trading. However, the phenomenon of catching and fishing here is not
controlled. The entire process takes place in crowded inhabited areas, which is
really a problem.
Contemporary Vietnam is located in a period with lots of
contradictions and overlapping confusions of past, present and future.
Exploring this area of knowledge and reviewing directly everything has brought
me so much more determination to decide to simplify and frontally expose my
work ‘Soil and Water’. For me, it's a way to unleash the nodes, which
complicatedly exist in my dilemmas.
Series 'Prolonged Interventions' were completed by the end of July
2015 and were exhibited in Atlanta, USA in August 2015. Soil and water, after
being considered under the geographically and timely approach, resulted in a
series of surreal drawings with an indirect implication of the consequences of
Agent Orange after reviewing the information about dioxin infected babies
placed in formaldehyde contained bottles in Tu Du Hospital, Ho Chi Minh city
and characteristics of Dioxin exposures in human bodies, according to
researches.
The main medium used were black ink and Dó paper, which help
simplify the visual of the work and also help keep the surface of these
drawings stay in a homogeneous structure. From that, the combination of
landscapes, figures and imaginative creatures become present on the surface of
the drawings.
By reconstructing the images, spaces, environment and time, I was
able to create surreal arrangements. The inspirations made the works strong,
impressive and unique. From the first sight, you can feel a sense of exploding
and bursting energy between human and other creatures, of peace and tranquility
along with deep hurt.
Despite the name 'Prolonged Interventions', this series of
drawings is in fact the memories recalled to connect truths in reality. I want
to unleash all the emotions pent up like a solidly constructed wall, seemingly
unable to overcome. I want to break down the inability of perception among
society, which keeps people from clear evaluation for the next arrangement of
political forces to create the solutions for common problems as well as the
problems about dioxin in Vietnam.
The conflicts perceived through the imageries in the work evoke a
cross interference of the selected objects - extended to be analyzed, reflected
on, and empathized with hopes for peace and reassurance for us to look into the
problems from history in a different and better way. The new meaning of the
drawings is to realize the real peace of the existence of all the habitats for
human and aquatic animals continue to develop under a more tolerant attitude.
The
Silent Lake project
Le
Phi Long
(Including 2 works ‘Prolonged Interventions’ and ‘Soil and Water’)
Ho Chi Minh city, November 2015
The beginning of 2015 fall was the time for examining the next
location according to the Dioxins map in Vietnam war, which is Bien Hung lake,
located in Bien Hoa, Dong Nai in the south of Vietnam. Blue lake under
sunlight, green trees, newly constructed park with sites specified for
entertainment, couples enjoying themselves on those duck paddle boats with
music from the water orchestra, the sound of children laughing in the colorful
theme park, the bustle of people on culinary shopping street on a Saturday
night. I stored in my computer a picture named “Happy day” of a young couple
shooting their wedding photographs at the park. It feels like a humiliation on
those people who are trying to make their living everyday, cherishing peace and
happiness. This joyful reality seems almost like a strange ornament in a
picture of a chosen land for a cultural center, which should be viewed
carefully under a neutral perspective and examined by the objectivity of time.
I’m like an outsider, trying to follow a story objectified by a large amount of
information from scientific researches of this land, from the Ranch Hand
operation, the exposure levels of dioxin in ecosystems and human bodies,
problems passed down through generations.
The more I research, the more I find it hard, broad and need so
much patience. The information from field surveys seems so powerful they can
swallow me up and destroy reality. All the contradictions were exposed like a
joke, a tantalization.
Bien Hung lake is located next to the airport in Bien Hoa city,
Dong Nai which used to be a gathering place for the large storages of herbicide
for the Operation Ranch Hand in the total operation named “Operation Trail
Dust”. During WWII, the US government mandated and provided funding for the
National Science Council to develop a type of chemicals used for the
destruction of paddy fields and crops in Japan (at that time rice was the main
source of food for Japanese). The research resulted in 2,4D and 2,4,5-T (Agent
Orange). However, following the discussion between President Dwight Roosevelt
and his White House Chief of Staff, Admiral William D. Leahy decided not to
employ this chemical in the war against the Japanese; thus Agent Orange was not
used during the Second World War. In the late 1950s, after the British had
succeeded in using 2,4,5
- T trichlorophenoxyacetic to destroy the harvest in
Malaya, US Department of Defense put ARPA (Advanced Research Project
Agency) in charge of developing this chemical for
military purpose. A rather extensive test run took place at Camp Drum, New York
in 1959; the same amount applied later in the Vietnam War. Operation Ranch
Hand--the defoliation initiative to destroy the crops in 1961--played an
indispensable role in the military tactics that the Americans implemented all
over South Vietnam as well as the areas bordering Laos and Cambodia. In the
period from 1961 to 1972, with the aid of the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN), the
American had sprayed approximately 76.9 millions liters of herbicide including
336 kg Dioxin from South Vietnam to Center Vietnam (Hue-Quang Tri). At this
time, herbicide was used to clear the food crops and vegetation cover and thus
to protect the American soldiers from guerrilla attacks. Any agricultural areas
suspected, as an area under the control of the NLF would suffer extermination.
In 1970, during the conference “War Crimes and the American Conscience” in
which dozens of American scholars participated, Galston defined the term
“Ecocide”, result of the four years he had spent researching on herbicide and
protesting against Operation Ranch Hand. The Yale Vietnam Conference 2002 - The
Ecological and Health Effects of the Vietnam War, took place in September 2002,
attracted world’s leading ecologists who examined the latest scientific proofs
and arrived at the conclusion that the US had conducted a chemical warfare of
the largest scale in the history of the human race. The consequences of this
operation have been perturbing the contaminated areas ever since, especially,
the area of Bien Hung lake and the trail of land from the South to Central
Vietnam.
The body of my work based on the locations on the geographic
distribution maps of areas affected by the Ranch Hand operation. Project ‘The
silent lake' focuses on exploring the datas and meaning of the current state of
Bien Hung lake and its wide influence from Bien Hoa province to Ho Chi Minh
city. The work examines the statistics of loss and events, the conflicts
between history and present, in order to recall the different and prolonged
interventions. The arrangement of soil and water together with paintings is the
result of many aspects of Bien Hung lake’s existence taken into consideration.
The main focus of this whole research is to investigate on this existence of
the lake, how dioxin spread in the ecosystems, penetrating into our food chain;
thus affect directly on human health.
The installation ‘Soil and water’
Soil and water were exploited in Bien Hung Lake. The soil was
dried and packaged; the water was put into glass bottles, similar to the
bottles seen in the display of Dioxin fetuses in Tu Du Hospital. Both were
attached with usage information. For me, using soil and water from the
lake brings a sense of directly looking into the problems. Moreover, having
time to witness first hand and touch the objects of exploration was necessary
especially when faced with a huge amount of statistic information and uncertain
efforts to solve the problems. The effort to bring soil and water to Hanoi was
also a way for me to separate these objects of exploration from their original
location to another space to look at them in a more objective perspective.
Mr. BakkodirBurkhanov, UNDP Deputy Country Director in Vietnam
estimated the levels of dioxin contamination in Bien Hoa airbase are hundreds
of times the required levels by national and international standards: ‘Such
levels of dioxin contamination are unique to Viet Nam, especially at Bien Hoa
airbase with a large scale and high levels of dioxin concentration. Contaminated
soil in Bien Hoa has structural characteristics and composition that have not
been reported anywhere else in the world.’ According to Office 33, during
Vietnam war, the American military used Bien Hoa airbase as a main base for
containing herbicides to serve the spraying of toxic chemicals. 98,000
45-gallon barrels of Agent Orange, 45,000 barrels of Agent White, and 16,000
barrels of Agent Blue were stored at this airbase. From December 1969 to March
1970, there were at least 4 major spills occurred in the environment in this
area. Approximately 25,000 liters of Agent Orange and 2,500 Agent White were
released to the Environment. There are usually a system of ponds and lakes
especially for drainage during heavy rains. At the southern border of the Z1
contaminated area, rainwater drainage ditched from the airbase into lake No. 1,
lake No.2, ponds and other aquatic habitats. Lake No. 1 with 6,300-m2 area,
lake No.2 has an area of about 21,000 m2. From lake No.2, rainwater carried
subsequently dioxins to lake Bien Hung 1 and lake Bien Hung 2, then followed
the sewer system to Dong Nai river. This sewer system flowed through a
residential area in Buu Long ward. At the Southwest corner of the Z1 area,
there was also Gate 2 Lake. Contaminated water eventually flowed from this lake
to the nearby field area and corporation 29's. Thus, dioxin continued to
penetrate into aquatic animals and food chain. Fish harvested in these areas
are highly dioxin contaminated and people who eat fish and aquatic animals from
these areas also have high dioxin concentrations in their bodies. For
years, these areas have been strictly protected and prohibited from fishing for
food and trading. However, the phenomenon of catching and fishing here is not
controlled. The entire process takes place in crowded inhabited areas, which is
really a problem.
Contemporary Vietnam is located in a period with lots of
contradictions and overlapping confusions of past, present and future.
Exploring this area of knowledge and reviewing directly everything has brought
me so much more determination to decide to simplify and frontally expose my
work ‘Soil and Water’. For me, it's a way to unleash the nodes, which
complicatedly exist in my dilemmas.
Series 'Prolonged Interventions' were completed by the end of July
2015 and were exhibited in Atlanta, USA in August 2015. Soil and water, after
being considered under the geographically and timely approach, resulted in a
series of surreal drawings with an indirect implication of the consequences of
Agent Orange after reviewing the information about dioxin infected babies
placed in formaldehyde contained bottles in Tu Du Hospital, Ho Chi Minh city
and characteristics of Dioxin exposures in human bodies, according to
researches.
The main medium used were black ink and Dó paper, which help
simplify the visual of the work and also help keep the surface of these
drawings stay in a homogeneous structure. From that, the combination of
landscapes, figures and imaginative creatures become present on the surface of
the drawings.
By reconstructing the images, spaces, environment and time, I was
able to create surreal arrangements. The inspirations made the works strong,
impressive and unique. From the first sight, you can feel a sense of exploding
and bursting energy between human and other creatures, of peace and tranquility
along with deep hurt.
Despite the name 'Prolonged Interventions', this series of
drawings is in fact the memories recalled to connect truths in reality. I want
to unleash all the emotions pent up like a solidly constructed wall, seemingly
unable to overcome. I want to break down the inability of perception among
society, which keeps people from clear evaluation for the next arrangement of
political forces to create the solutions for common problems as well as the
problems about dioxin in Vietnam.
The conflicts perceived through the imageries in the work evoke a
cross interference of the selected objects - extended to be analyzed, reflected
on, and empathized with hopes for peace and reassurance for us to look into the
problems from history in a different and better way. The new meaning of the
drawings is to realize the real peace of the existence of all the habitats for
human and aquatic animals continue to develop under a more tolerant attitude.
Serie :
The prolonged interventions no1 to no8
Watercolor,pen on Dó paper
78 x 73 x 5 cm
2015
Serie :
The prolonged interventions no1 to no8
Watercolor,pen on Dó paper
78 x 73 x 5 cm
2015
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