monica trieu
more infoarttattoo

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fine artist + tattooist
sydney based

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painting series

installation
installation

woodblock print
digital website
installation
installation
painting
body of work soft are hazy memories, like that surrounding rising planes, and gas of cars out of driveways
bring this to auntie
to never really truly know, to never really truly see the face of what we bury
chopsticks and spoons fall to the beat of temple drums
when will we next see this warm place
my memories were made 20 years ago in the hands and feet of my mum
In a distant land...
thank you!
The unseen casualties2024

2024
2023

2022
2022
2022
2022
2020
2018

yeardescriptionmaterials

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2022I grew up hearing the stories of dad’s child and teen years in Vietnam. He’d talk about how he terrorised his schoolteachers, how he learned to fold pastry and the size of the snakes you could find in his province. In a distant land… reflects on childhood and memoralises a short memory, that dad had told me as we both spotted a magnolia tree in the front yard of a home, into objects imitating the valuable forms of traditional Chinese jade statues.

The work offers a collection of objects built and carved from clay. Slabs of Chinese text adorn most of the objects, which were extracted from carved chipboard and hand-built onto the pieces. Gestural carved lines and seal impressions are made into the surfaces. Two animal figures sit with all the objects, emulating the rock structures found in Chinese gardens, and taking on their protective qualities.


Translation:
‘In a distant land’

‘Dad says he remembers climbing a tree when he was young, with white flowers and leaves shaped like butterflies’

‘But with sun scorched skin, he climbs now to harvest fruit’


Photos courtesy of ​​@evan1724 (on Instagram)


Playroom group exhibition
UNSW AD Space
ceramic bisque, glaze, paper, found wood, dimensions vary