Dinner at Home 

我們回家吃飯

Video Installation 

錄像裝置
2008-2010
Fresh Vietnamese food sealed with epoxy, wooden tray, table, cloth 

新鮮食物、樹脂、餐桌、桌巾
Video footage from the trip to Vietnam in 2007. 2 minutes in loops.
Da Gallery, New York 

於Da藝廊展出，美國紐約

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My mother is an overseas Chinese who grew up in Vietnam. When she turned 19, she went to Taiwan to attend college, and never went back to Vietnam because of the war, which happened right after she left Saigon.

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I invited my mother to visit Vietnam with me in the summer of 2007. It was 34 years after her departure.I was assuming that for most people away from home, returning would be something joyous. However, for my mother, it wasn’t. My mother did not recognize anything in Vietnam. The only thing she remembered was the food. Food became the only thing that meant “home” to her.

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This piece represents my search for my mother’s history and memory. And how memory can be sealed and fade slowly. I am creating images of my mother’s memory, where there are so few.As with memory, the fresh food will decay eventually. This is the way I chose to tell a poignant story about my mother.

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對於我的母親而言，”家”的印象只剩下一桌子熱騰的越南餐。我想盡了辦法，試圖把母親最愛的越南春捲和涼拌河粉永久保存下來。我仔細地用樹脂把食物密密封起來，創作出一桌暫時美麗的冰冷食物，這些食物會在密封的裡面慢慢腐敗，我沒有辦法還原給母親一個完整的家。

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我的母親出生於越南，省籍廣東南海，是僑居於越南的中華兒女。她在19歲那年來到台灣就讀大學，此後因越南越戰淪陷，從此再也沒有回到家鄉。我誤以為回到故鄉會是件喜悅的事，在去年夏天，我邀請母親在歷經了34年後首次回到越南，我才真正知道，在那樣一個歷經戰亂的國家，那些逃亡與被迫分離的年月，是破碎且沈重得難以拾起。

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我在我母親出生並成長的故鄉，看不見她的影子，僑居的身份更讓她無所適從。即使是那些童年的記憶與血親的情感，都找不到位置。走在胡志明市的街道上，母親看著紛亂的馬路，說她什麼都不記得了，唯一記得的，是從前外婆做的牛肉河粉，和親手包的生春捲。食物成了母親對於家的唯一記憶。 

〈我們回家吃飯〉是我替母親做的一件作品，我把在越南拍攝的許多棟房子的相片，以及在前往母親越南住處的路上所拍攝的影片，投影在用環氧樹脂密封的新鮮越南食物上。我想替母親找回她的家，卻無能為力。我只能在預知食物將會腐敗的情況下，仍試圖將之保存，我替母親把記憶封裝，我只能這樣抗議。