It
would be fraudulent to regard artist, Tung Son or myself as absolutely
within a context of Australian or Vietnamese culture. Both are complex
societies and Tung's Chinese heritage and my English heritage only reiterate,
at best, that national identity tags are incidental to communication and,
at worst, signifiers of a host of cliche's (kangaroos and Uncle Ho, conical
hats and Bondi surfers).
Tung and I met in Hanoi in 1998 at an exhibition. After some vigorous
sign language over the symbolic details in a couple of paintings, we took
a walk together around the Hoan Kiem Lake - in the old quarter of Hanoi.
As we walked, Tung was keen to explain that the show we had seen was "movie
goo"- a phrase that I had never heard and one that he was adamant
was of English origin. I suggested that "movie goo" was possibly
another language "Khong tieng ang! (Not English)". Slang from
another language? A bastardised Vietnamese/English, perhaps? A sort of
Vietglish or Engnamese? We walked around the Lake four times trying to
decipher the meaning and origin, repeating it endlessly, acting it out
and scribbling notes. Finally it twigged and the expression came to earth:
"Ah! Mauvais gout!- (bad taste)", it was the legacy of French
Indo-China before us.
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