Graduation Term
2024
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Committee Chair
Jason Reblando
Abstract
The exhibition Polyphony brings together photographs from Trades of the Street and Commere(d) Culture, two documentary series portraying Vietnamese marketplaces and businesses across multiple cities in Việt Nam and the United States respectively to provide a cross-cultural and multisensorial perspective on how commercial practices and establishments represent Vietnamese culture and national identity. The market provides insights into Việt Nam’s multilayered history, struggles, ways of living, sense of community, and its vibrant soul and culture. The combination of these two series and the sequencing of the exhibition utilizes the relational nature of photography, which allows new meaning to emerge from a photograph when put in context with others, to highlight the great adaptability and communitarian side of commerce and Vietnamese culture beyond borders and through vicissitudes of history.
Access Type
Thesis-Open Access
Recommended Citation
Nguyen, Jade, "Polyphony: Multitudes of Vietnamese National Identity through Experiential Documentation of Marketplaces" (2024). Theses and Dissertations. 1936.
https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/etd/1936
DOI
https://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2024.20240618063950270981.999942