I Was Born Where You Are
Phuong Nguyen
Opening Reception:
October 9, 6 - 9 pm
Artist in Attendance
I met Phuong Nguyen to discuss I Was Born Where You Are during the seventh lunar month–ghost month. It is a time when the veil between the spirit and physical worlds is at its thinnest. Communities in East and Southeast Asia celebrate by making offerings to appease wandering ghosts and to honour ancestors. The atmosphere of this time and Nguyen’s existential exploration of humanity, decay, and the space in-between feeds into my reflection on this exhibition.
Untitled, 2026 depicts the bottom two-thirds of the sanxing (“three celestial bodies”). In folk mythology, Sanxing are the three deities of happiness, prosperity, and longevity. The tradition of sanxing being represented as smiling bearded men in porcelain form began in the Ming dynasty, providing a physical vessel for the purpose of ceremonial ritualization. These rituals take place at altars that serve as a portal that tethers the two worlds. They always begin with the lighting of incense. As the smoke bridges the physical and spiritual world, it opens a pathway for offerings and blessings to be shared. The sturdy wooden frames in Nguyen’s work are reminiscent of altars as connective platforms. The frames are imbued with butterflies and turtles that embody transformation and transition–from crawler to flier, from water to land. They are adorned with fragile freshwater pearls borne of the death of their maker. Their liveliness contrasts against the spikes of durian, the rot of swamps, and baskets that feel like cages.
During ghost month, the ghosts that receive offerings and respect are not simply vague supernatural beings. They are ancestors. The rituals beyond the aesthetics of incense, porcelain statues, and offerings are grounded in filial piety, connection, and respect that is unsevered by death. Ghost Month calls for ceremonial care in reflecting on the connection between oneself and the family members who came before. The allure of filial piety can be weaponized into familial guilt to reinforce a Confucian fixation on the debt the present owes to the past. But what is beautiful about Ghost Month is that it is the most auspicious time to make offerings to Yue Lao, the “Old Man under the Moon”, a matchmaker deity who ties a red string to connect fated partners. The thinning of the veil provides not just a link to the past but enables future connections.
It is common for spirits and ancestors to visit the dreams of the living during Ghost Month, leaving feelings of nostalgia and grief for what has been and for what can never be again. It is harrowing to realize that the past does not always stay where it is, in memories; but on the other hand, there is a joy and comfort in seeing loved ones in dreams again.
Exhibition text by Jenn Chan
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Sources
Orientalism
“Orientalism” (1978), E.W. Said (Book)
Orientalism in Nineteenth Century Art
Chinoiserie
“Monstrous Beauty: A Feminist Revision of Chinoiserie” 2025 Iris Moon (Exhibition & Catalogue)
Ornamentalism
“Ornamentalism” (2018), A. A. Cheng (Essay and Book)
Vietnamese/Southeast Asian & French Colonialism
“L’Art a Hue (1925)”, The Association of Friends of Ancient Hue (Book)
Indochina, ‘Greater France’ and the 1931 Colonial Exhibition in Paris (Essay)
Community Without Borders: Symbolism, Theosophy, and Anti-Colonialism in France, 1880-1910 (Lecture)
Fruits
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Born and raised in Toronto Canada, Phuong Nguyen is a Toronto based visual artist working in oil painting and sculpture. Nguyen uses these mediums to explore themes of Ornamentalism, Orientalism, and the relationship between personhood and objecthood by referencing Orientalist scholarship, and the aesthetics and history of Chinoiserie in relationship to South East Asian/Vietnamese femininity. Nguyen holds a BFA from OCAD University (2014).