Hương Ngô: 'Ungrafting'
April 27, 2024 10:00 AM –12:00 PM
Event Summary
Hương Ngô: Ungrafting
Time is crucial to Hương Ngô, who investigates the resonances of colonial histories in the present day.
She explores various aspects of Vietnamese resistance to French colonialism through archival research, and activates the historical record via imagery, language, and material matter.
For her first solo exhibition in Colorado, Ngô turns to a series of early twentieth-century photographs showing foreign trees and tree grafts planted in Vietnam by the French.
For the artist, grafting—a procedure that involves cutting and splicing different species into a single plant—serves as a powerful metaphor for the physical violence inherent in colonialism.
Ngô reproduces the archival photographs using the Van Dyke method, which was common at the time the original pictures were made, but alters the fixing process so that the new images will gradually deteriorate and darken.
Accompanying the photographs are other new works by Ngô: altered reproductions of plants that were catalogued in 1919 for a French herbarium (a collection of systematically organized dried plants) and hanging fabric works with visible sutures that are treated with iron, copper, and other materials, many of which carry particular significance in the Southwest region of the United States.
Like tree grafts, the tears in these works serve as a reminder of the violence of agricultural and mineral extraction; control of land, the artist proposes, is often accompanied by control over the land’s inhabitants.
At the same time, the mends make visible the resistance and repair that may emerge in response to such violence.
To expand on this idea, the artist will bring into the exhibition a selection of cultural heritage items from our Fine Arts Center’s permanent collection that further speak to the history of the region and its cultural intersections.
Collectively, the works in the show offer a gesture of what the artist has termed “ungrafting”: a poetic decolonial methodology that weaves together networks of care across time.
Hương Ngô: Ungrafting is curated by Katja Rivera, Curator of Contemporary Art, in collaboration with the artist. Support of the exhibition is generously provided by The Anschutz Foundation and Colorado Creative Industries.
Also Occurs On
- Wednesday, May 1
- Thursday, May 2
- Friday, May 3
- Saturday, May 4
- Wednesday, May 8
- Thursday, May 9
- Friday, May 10
- Saturday, May 11
- Wednesday, May 15
- Thursday, May 16
- Friday, May 17
- Saturday, May 18
- Wednesday, May 22
- Thursday, May 23
- Friday, May 24
- Saturday, May 25
- Wednesday, May 29
- Thursday, May 30
- Friday, May 31
- Saturday, June 1
- Wednesday, June 5
- Thursday, June 6
- Friday, June 7
- Saturday, June 8
- Wednesday, June 12
- Thursday, June 13
- Friday, June 14
- Saturday, June 15
- Wednesday, June 19
- Thursday, June 20
- Friday, June 21
- Saturday, June 22
- Wednesday, June 26
- Thursday, June 27
- Friday, June 28
- Saturday, June 29
- Wednesday, July 3
- Thursday, July 4
- Friday, July 5
- Saturday, July 6
- Wednesday, July 10
- Thursday, July 11
- Friday, July 12
- Saturday, July 13
- Wednesday, July 17
- Thursday, July 18
- Friday, July 19
- Saturday, July 20
- Wednesday, July 24
- Thursday, July 25
- Friday, July 26
- Saturday, July 27