Biomythography: Past Events
In conjunction with the Biomythography exhibitions, a series of events that deepen engagement with the artworks, themes within the exhibitions, and make interdisciplinary connections is an important part of programming.
Thinh Nguyen Deadnaming, 2020 Installation and social performance. Cerritos College, Cerritos College Art Gallery, Norwalk, Ca
Thinh Nguyen Deadnaming, 2020 Installation and social performance. Cerritos College, Cerritos College Art Gallery, Norwalk, Ca
Thinh Nguyen Deadnaming, 2020 Installation and social performance. Variable medium and duration
Thinh Nguyen Deadnaming, 2020 Installation and social performance. Cerritos College, Cerritos College Art Gallery, Norwalk, Ca
Biomythography: Making Visible Events
Deadnaming a performance by Thinh Nguyen was performed on February 10, 2020, at Cerritos Gallery, Cerritos, Ca
Performance: Deadnaming by Thinh Nguyen
During the opening reception, the artist Thinh Nguyen will activate their installation in a social performance, Deadnaming, as a remembrance of trans murders in the recent year. The installation itself is a simple altar desk with two candles, incense burner and holder, two vases of flowers, and the list of names on the wall. The performance is conducted in front of the altar with a mantra chant followed by a collective naming of the dead. The work is meant to give space for a personal mourning and to bring visibility to the epidemic of transphobic murdering of trans bodies.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Thinh Nguyen (b. 1984, Bảo An, Vietnam) is a cultural developer (artist, educator, independent curator, cultural critic) whose work investigates the intersections of cultural values. Utilizing various media, they explore and expose oppressive sociopolitical power structures. Nguyen has performed and exhibited nationally and internationally, most recently at The Mistake Room, The Hammer Museum, REDCAT, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, and Contemporary Irish Art Center Los Angeles. They have staged institutional interventions at The New Museum, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Nguyen’s work has been written about in ArtForum, the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Magazine, LA Weekly, Hyperallergic, and Artillery Magazine.
Biomythography @ FAR Bazaar: Axis of Ego: When and Where I Enter by Chris Christion
“Axis of Ego: When and Where I Enter” is a video and multimedia installation which investigates notions of toxic masculinity, cultural humility, cultural speculation, and myth creation while exploring intersecting concepts of inherited racial and social constructs including but not limited to masquerading’s of masculinity and the destructive nature of racially, culturally, and gendered hierarchical organization. The film “Axis of Ego” highlights a comparative link between Cognitive Dissonance in race relations and Sigmund Freud theory on the Ego Defense Mechanisms.