I lives less in Vietnam than in The Netherlands - I live in The Netherlands more than in Vietnam by Pris Roos

I live less in Vietnam than in the Netherlands -
I live in the Netherlands more than in Vietnam
story of A vinh Tran, a chinese woman who fled Vietnam in the 1970s
group exhibition “On Collective Care & Togetherness” 
Showroom MAMA, Rotterdam 
wood, rice bags, rice grains
2020

I get acquainted with A vinh Tran, the mother of Denniel Vuong (a dear childhood friend of Roos) and have a conversation with her at home in Beverwijk, The Netherlands. An important part of the conversation is about her experiences as a boat refugee who was picked up by a NEDLLOYD boat and as a 15-year-old girl in Vietnam during the war.

The wooden construction in the installation refers to the boat refugees who fled Vietnam in the 1970s and 1980s after the division of Vietnam into a communist North and an anti-communist South. For this work, Roos was inspired by the conversation with A vinh Tran. The various bags of rice not only reflect the bodies and the worldwide flight of immigrants from all over the world to Western Europe, but is also a reference to the use of rice in the toko of Roos' family. Her father (the chef in the toko) uses all kinds of rice from different countries; pandan, jasmine, basmati, long grain and broken rice grains for cooking rice.With the transcript “written words of A vinh Tran”, Roos tells about the hidden history of an immigrant. This can be listened in the recording. She shows that this normal woman - A vinh Tran - tells a story that is important to the history of all immigrants and non-immigrants.