Description
About the book
Làng Hữu Nghị is a residence in Hanoi, Vietnam for people affected by Agent Orange, one of the ‘Rainbow Herbicides’ used by the U.S. Air Force during the war under Operation Ranch Hand.
The chemical weapon’s genetic effects continue to be passed down through the generations, so this residence is shared by Vietnamese veterans and their current and future descendants.
The residence was founded by a U.S veteran, George Mizo, in 1992 as a gesture of reparation and reconciliation for the part he played in the Vietnam War.
We wanted to explore the ongoing legacy of the Vietnam-America War. Over a two-year period, we established a workshop at Làng Hữu Nghị to engage in a visual exchange. This body of work is a constellation of videos, photographs, and paintings.
The video stills are from dream-like vignettes we co-directed with Vietnamese veterans. They are freely associated images that blur the lines between memory, reality, and wish fulfillment. The veterans prefer to remain anonymous because they are still considered members of the military.
The younger generation in the photographs contributed drawings for this book and, at times, they drew directly on the photographs. Their names are listed below: Bùi Thị Hóa, Đinh Thị Hương, Đỗ Quang Hưng, Lương Nhật Tân, Nguyễn Tiến Hưng, Phạm Văn Mạnh, Phan Thị Lan PHương, Nguyễn Thị Vân & Vietnamese veterans.
