PROJECT ROOM : THANG DO
Exhibition dates. 14 Jan - 2 Feb 2025
Opening Reception : Friday 17 Jan 2025, 6:00 - 9:00 pm
Be careful what you say or I will make a work about it.
Where I grew up, parents drug their gay sons into fucking a female prostitute to “bend them back” to being straight. And if that girl got pregnant from that one time? Jackpot, now there’s something to ground their son forever!
Where I grew up, if your parents found out that you were gay, they would threaten to cross your name out of the household government documents so you could not even go to school or get a passport.
Where I grew up, it is a child’s duty to give their parents an heir so they don’t feel left behind compared to their peers; after that, you can just go back to fucking men on the side and leave your wife to taking care of the child by herself. Hey, at least your parents now have a new toy to show off …
Sometimes we forget the kindness that existed in a few privileged countries is nothing but a fairy tale in most parts of the world. Media popularity does not reflect reality’s prevalence. Shown in this exhibition is a collection of words that the artist's parents have said to him during his coming out process.
Thang Do is a queer Vietnamese artist whose works embody the human obsession with spectacles as means of escaping reality and fuelling hope. As a migrant worker obsessed with chasing the 'American/Australian' dream, Thang manifests empowerment in his work and invites others to do the same. Working with domestic materials such as paper, glitter, and foil, the artist uses techniques like embellishing, scoring, and folding, to assemble fantasised vessels resembling his constant travels between the physical reality and the wishful realm of the privileged and wealthy.
Be careful what you say or I will make a work about it.
A fraction of my parents' words and gold metal leaf on kraft card.
200cm x 110cm (each).
$979 each.