The First Sculpture Park, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Nguyen Bao Ngoc
Images taken at the construction and installation of the Sculpture Park in Gia Ding Park, Ho Chi Minh City.
� Organized by the Ministry of Culture and Information, Gia Ding Park, Ho Chi Minh City, has for the first time hosted a sculpture residency and exhibition. On this occasion the event is to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the liberation of Saigon and the reunification of Vietnam. As many as 40 artists were invited to participate from throughout the country as a symbol of this unity. Artists from Tien Giang, Ving Long, An Giang, Hue and Hanoi have included Tran Hoang Co, Phan Quan Dung, Nguyen Quan Nguyen Van On, Nguyen Xuan Tien, Tran Viet Hung, Dinh Ru, Nguyen Hai Nguyen and Pham Trinh Trung.
� The artists and assistants worked courageously, even in the fierce heat of summer, carving their sculptures from limestone. Each sculpture depicted an example of the heroic acts and sacrifices made by the Vientamese people in the struggle for liberty and independence. The heroic mothers who lost their sons in battle have been honored most in this exhibition; the works carved in their name aim to heal the emotional and psychological scars of war. There are also abstract pieces, statues of soldiers and a surprisingly frequent trope of the phoenix-an appropriate symbol of the economic success and cultural development that has been achieved since the end of that war.
� After talking to the artists and wandering around their works, you cannot help but be inspired: this exhibition is a celebration of peace, an optimistic signal of a better, collective future. The exhibition of patriotic art fits curiously into the space of contemporary art of Vietnam. As younger artists move to new themes, this exhibit reminds them that they have been afforded the opportunity to experiment and create new forms by the sacrifices of the previous generations.
� At the end of the residency, all sculptures will be kept for public display by the Ministry of Culture and Information.
