New Perspectives

Exhibit in Cantor Art Gallery allows viewers to see world through the eyes of Vietnamese women artists

From Aug. 25 until Oct. 4, Holy Cross’ Cantor Art Gallery will host Changing Identity: Recent Works by Women Artists from Vietnam, a collection of works from 10 contemporary Vietnamese women artists challenging the traditional roles of women in Vietnamese society. This exhibit is the first of its kind to tour the United States and Holy Cross is the only New England venue to hold the exhibition.

This distinct opportunity comes with much responsibility for the gallery’s director, Roger Hankins, and Ann Marie Leshkowich, associate professor of anthropology and sociology. Both played important roles in discovering the exhibit and preparing for its arrival.

“My own research has included a focus on gender and fashion in Vietnam,” says Leshkowich. “For several years, I had hoped to be able to work with Roger on an exhibit at the Cantor Gallery that could explore some aspect of women’s lives and artistic expression in contemporary Vietnam. When I learned that Nora Taylor, the foremost expert on Vietnamese art in the United States, was curating this exhibit, Roger and I realized that we had a unique opportunity to bring a taste of the diversity of Vietnamese contemporary art to Holy Cross. Roger then did all the hard work of arranging to bring the exhibit to campus.”

Hankins also had close ties to this subject matter. “Ann Marie and I had talked about organizing an exhibit with Vietnamese contemporary art and textiles, for a couple of years,” he says. “While at UC Davis, I curated an exhibition that included both American veterans of the Vietnam War and Vietnamese artists which brought into focus for me a closer look at a subject that was largely ignored in the art world at that time.”

Leshkowich also took on responsibility for developing programming to correspond with the exhibit.

“As a liberal arts college, Holy Cross strives to integrate special programs into the curriculum so that our students will be able to approach an exhibit such as this from an informed, multifaceted, and critical perspective,” she says. “Special events also provide an opportunity to build connections to the broader Worcester and central Massachusetts community. I worked with other faculty to organize several programs in conjunction with the exhibit.”

Among the public programs will be a lecture and discussion by curator Nora Taylor, and one of the exhibit’s artists, Ly Tran Quynh Giang, on Sept. 18 at 6 p.m. On Sept. 25 at 4:30 p.m. in the Rehm Library, Karen Gottschang Turner, professor of history at Holy Cross, will give a talk titled “Into the Light: Representing Vietnamese Women’s Struggles,” followed by a screening of her documentary film, Hidden Warriors: Women on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Hankins created the entire layout of the Changing Identity exhibit using photographs of the pieces as well as the dimensions of the objects given to him by International Art and Artists who circulated the show.

“I always try and recreate the narrative that a curator has envisioned when they organize an exhibition,” he says. “It takes some patience to let the artwork inform the decision making process when you create an environment that works for the viewer and helps to bring across successive layers of meaning. In the end I hope I can bring out exactly what the curator had in mind as well as to give the artists something they would be very happy with.” 

Both Hankins and Leshkowich have high hopes for the exhibit.

“The viewer is invited to go beyond images or stereotypes of women in Vietnam by pondering the unique perspectives of 10 different artists,” says Leshkowich.

Hankins says, “An exhibit like this demands perhaps a little more from a viewer to sink into given the cultural context of the work, but judging from how it now looks since we’ve installed it I think the show will be a memorable experience”.

By Lauren Lanzon ’09

Related Information:

• Cantor Art Gallery