The Unburied Sounds of a Troubled Horizon
by Tuan Andrew Nguyen

Nguyet is a woman who runs a small junkyard with her mother and her cousin Lai on the outskirts of Quang Tri on the North Central Coast of Vietnam, one of the most heavily bombed areas in modern history, where generations have lived with the physical residue and the lingering trauma of war.  Since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, the region remains heavily contaminated with unexploded ordnances (UXO), a persistent and deadly reality that has claimed countless lives. It is these UXO fragments that Nguyet scavenges and sells to make a living.

She crafts delicate hanging mobile sculptures from the bomb scraps, which her mother, suffering from PTSD, believes are signs of ghostly possession. Discovering their resemblance to Alexander Calder’s works, Nguyet begins a journey that leads her to believe she is Calder’s reincarnation. Her cousin Lai, who lost his limbs and an eye to a UXO explosion—a tragedy mirroring the real-life experience of the actor who portrays him—becomes part of the story as Nguyet fabricates makeshift prosthetics for Lai using salvaged bomb scraps, transforming instruments of destruction into tools of renewal.

For Tuan Andrew Nguyen, this film is a story of how material contains memory in personal and universal ways, and holds potential for transformation, reincarnation, and healing. It is also a testament to the resilience of communities who find ways to work through trauma.

The Unburied Sounds of a Troubled Horizon is part of a larger body of work, which includes mobile sculptures made with discarded bombs and artillery shells left over from the Vietnam War.

The Unburied Sounds of a Troubled Horizon (2022)
Single-channel video installation, color, 5.1 surround sound
58 min

Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn (b. Sài Gòn, Việt Nam, 1976) is an artist based in Ho Chi Minh City, who works across mediums, with a focus on moving-image works and sculpture. His practice explores memory as a form of political resistance and empowerment, focusing on communities impacted by colonialism, war, and displacement. Through collaborative projects, he investigates historical erasures and emphasizes storytelling as a means of healing, empathy, and solidarity. His projects often begin with objects—destroyed memorials, skeletal remains, or salvaged materials—that carry narratives of trauma and resilience. Approaching memory as fluid and intangible, Nguyễn engages with concepts of time and the supernatural, using ghosts and hauntings as tools to challenge dominant histories.

Nguyễn received a BFA from the University of California, Irvine in 1999 and an MFA from The California Institute of the Arts in 2004. Nguyễn has received several awards in both film and visual arts, including an Art Matters grant in 2010 and a VIA Art Fund grant. His work has been included in several international exhibitions including the Asia Pacific Triennial 2006, the Whitney Biennial 2017, the Sharjah Biennial 2019 and Berlin Biennale 2022. Nguyễn co-founded The Propeller Group in 2006, a platform for collectivity that situates itself between an art collective and an advertising company.