Phan Quang

Re/cover series

Phan Quang’s portrait series Re/cover grapples with a lesser-known history in Vietnam. After World War II, many Japanese soldiers who fought in Vietnam stayed in the country. They married Vietnamese women, had children, and lived in the country until Japan recalled them home. Leaving their wives and children behind, these families forged lives shaped by loss. Travelling to the rural region outside Hanoi where the descendants of these families live, Phan documented them in their homes, filled with images of their fathers and grandfathers, and with testimonial objects that bear witness to the familial impact of displacement and borders. To capture the presence of these lost forefathers, the artist draped his subjects with a white chiffon fabric traditionally associated with Japanese wedding ceremonies. The veils render the ghostly presences of the Japanese soldiers visible while also marking the subjects to highlight the way they’ve been othered and discriminated against. Staging these marked bodies in photographs that echo performance documentation, Phan challenges the defining nature of the historical archive; reflecting on the possibility of image-making as a tool for healing.