Interview: Lara Pacillo // Main photo: Jack Fenby
Between old soft toys, giant intestines, tins of condensed milk and golden Salomons, Truc Truong explores questions of power. She also searches for answers of belonging.
As a visual artist, Truc works in assemblage, installation and portraiture, drawing on her life experiences as a second-generation Vietnamese migrant. Throughout her career, Truc’s artwork has been featured in exhibitions across the nation, urging viewers to find their own meaning through her work.
This year, Truc is one of five South Australian artists selected to undertake The Guildhouse Collections Project: ‘The Disquiet’. Through the project, artists drew inspiration from political posters to create new works where Truc describes her contributions as her favourite and possibly most hated work to date.
With ‘The Disquiet’ exhibition opening on July 25, we speak with Truc about her art and who she’s really creating for.
What inspired you to become an artist?
It’s cheesy, but I became an artist pretty much because I felt like I had to. Making things and using my hands — that kind of creativity was the only thing I could do during a really bad depressive stage in my life.
I didn’t actually have an art background. I was enrolled in teaching at the time, but art was the only thing that I could bear within life at that stage. I just decided to give everything up and try art, and I’ve stuck with it so far.
How would you describe your art?
Chaotic. I’d say it’s definitely not for everyone. It’s chaotic, it’s assemblage, and it’s installation. And I’d say it’s just very real to me and my language.
What are some common themes that pop up in your work?
I’d say I am engaged with everyday constructs in the world, and I especially look at power dynamics and my experiences within different cultures when it comes to power dynamics.
Essentially, because I have a Vietnamese background, I grew up within this colliding world of very dominant cultures pulling me side to side. My work investigates a lot of that, and the nuances that a second-generation Vietnamese person like myself experiences.
Are you quite selective with the materials that you use in your art to communicate certain messages or ideas?
My work challenges accessibility. A lot of times, I question what art is for and who it is for. My family came from a lower socioeconomic background, so galleries or art weren’t really something I grew up with, was educated in, or understood. So, I have gone with the materials that I grew up understanding.
It’s a lot of found objects or things around my family’s house — things that were considered tacky or cheap or naff. I question the accessibility of the art world through those materials. So, I am picky with my materials, but I’m not at the same time.
What are some materials that you are drawn to lately?
At the moment, a couple of my works have been using preloved soft toys. Sustainability and accessibility in arts play a part in that intentional decision to avoid purchasing new toys. But at the same time, for me, it’s all about the fact that the soft toy needs to be an item that belonged to a person, that has helped them imagine or invent the world or learn about the world. And so, that material becomes embedded within my work as well. I can use soft toys from anywhere, but I choose a certain way to collect them.
Can you tell me about your creative process?
My creative process involves a lot of listening. I spend a lot of time in coffee shops by myself, and I’m always very aware of what’s going on around me. I try to gather what’s coming, what the universe is throwing at me.
Whether it’s an idea or an emotion or a feeling or a song, I try to listen to what my body is engaging in and how it wants to develop that work.
Can you tell me about your involvement with The Guildhouse Collections Project: The Disquiet?
A range of us were selected to look at these posters from the 70s that spoke about political issues at the time and create work inspired by these pieces. I chose one by Mandy Martin, which referenced the Vietnam War. It depicted a Vietnamese woman carrying a baby in a rice field, with a huge Coca-Cola bottle, rocket ship-sized, in the background.
At the same time that I received the project, I had been granted the Ian Potter Cultural Trust grant, where I was given $10,000 to go to Vietnam and do research that I had proposed. So, a lot of my work is blended into that Vietnam residency, as well as the Mandy Martin poster.
The art is video work and assemblage sculpture, and it’s about death essentially. Because while I was there, my grandpa passed away. But at the same time, I was looking at how globalisation and colonisation were such huge factors there. Everyone in Vietnam, like seven out of ten people, was wearing fake Louis Vuitton — you know, aunties in the fish market with fish guts in their hands working 12 hours, wearing these beautiful fake Louis Vuitton pyjama sets.
So, I guess the work is looking at that relationship, but poking fun and looking at the humour behind this French company now coming in and wanting to take away a lot of things that I think wouldn’t have occurred if that war and that colonisation hadn’t happened, or that kind of power dynamic wasn’t there. It’s probably my easiest project to date working with any museum and gallery, just because Guildhouse focused on me being able to produce what I wanted and having that freedom.
Do you have any favourite artworks?
I’d say The Guildhouse Collections Project video work, because I know that there are a lot of people that don’t like it. I’ve had many artists approach me and say, “That’s not your medium. That’s a bit odd.” I’ve had a lot of artists critique me, saying, “You should just stick with your assemblage installation.” I knew that I’d get judgment, but I made it anyway because my body wanted to make it.
I think people look at it thinking it’s not resolved. But the thing is, I don’t think any of my works are resolved. I don’t make work for it to be resolved. And even though it’s a video work, it’s just as choppy and chaotic as my actual work. I feel like it belongs to me, and it’s the only work where I’ve made it just for me.
So, I think that’s why it’s my favourite work so far, because I produced it knowing that there’d be haters.
What do you hope for people to take away when they see your work?
I would hope that they can have a laugh, because they probably will, but I would hope that it can be a help for anyone who needs it at the time, because I needed it at a time.
A part of me metaphorically thinks for a lot of the second-gen Asians that live in countries where they struggle to understand their place, there is a way to feel less alone, but it can be kind of hidden.
Like in my work, that help is hidden. It usually looks really colourful and chaotic. But I think what Asian culture does really well is there’s always pain and misery with celebration at the same time. Like a funeral always looks like a wedding.
And so, yeah, I’d hope someone would see a way out.
Truc Truong: Instagram // Website
The Guildhouse Collections Project ‘The Disquiet’: Thursday July 25 – Friday September 13 // Flinders University Museum of Art, Flinders University, Sturt Road, Bedford Park 5042
Find out more about The Guildhouse Collections Project on the Guildhouse website
