Slices of Love
2023
photography, MDF, steel
There they are, the tables with their sweeping surfaces under
the estival trees. They invite you to sit and linger in the warm
grass; to exchange, to ask yourself, „What have you eaten
today?“ In the installation Slices of Love, Thi My Lien Nguyen
focuses on the table as a place of communal practice. The
focus is primarily on eating together and the consideration
that a meal prepared by oneself can be understood as a sign
of love and care.
However, such a place does not set itself up, but goes hand in hand with emotional work. In other words, the kind of work
that is deliberately made invisible in a capitalist and fast-paced
society - and often rests on the shoulders of females. The
artist is now trying to resist this circumstance: Her installation
will become a place of rest and reflection on the value of
reproductive labor in our society. This is to be made possible,
among other things, within the framework of an event in July.
During her activation Tea & Slices of Love, the artist invites
visitors to the table and serves Vietnamese delicacies, fruit
and tea.
Thi My Lien Nguyen sharpens our eye for everyday and
supposedly self-evident things: even the simple peeling and
slicing of fruit can be an expression of affection or attention
and express feelings that cannot be put into words.
From the exhibition text “Common Grounds – Biennale Weiertal”, written by Giulia Bernardi