Archival pigment prints, 40 x 50 inches
Exhibited at the Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans
In Vietnamese, “xanh lá” means green leaves, and there are plenty sprouting in the rich fertile soil of the New Orleans area. As a Vietnamese-American child growing up in California, the camouflage uniforms actors wore in Hollywood’s Vietnam War movies haunted me. In my innocent child’s mind, the color green became associated with war, military, death, Agent Orange, and deforestation.
Later, in my adult life, the greenness of Vietnamese culture redeemed itself in my mother’s garden, where she grew Asian organic vegetables to make the delicious Vietnamese meals that nourished my siblings and me. Her garden was also where I had the idea of printing images in leaves through the action of photosynthesis, which became one of my signature works as an artist.
When I was invited to visit New Orleans, I was already wondering what Vietnamese people grew here, given that the climate is humid and subtropical much like Southeast Asia. I marveled at what I saw in these gardens: hanging winter melons (bí đao), elephant ear stalks (bạc hà), red Thai chilies (ớt), rice paddy herbs (ngò om), okra (đậu bắp), bitter melon (mướp đắng), and lemongrass.
The lemongrass was particularly significant because one of my earliest childhood memories involves that plant. I recall that, during our first few weeks in America, my sisters carried me as my family gathered wild lemongrass that grew along the highway until a neighbor told us we should stop. Gathering was a survival skill that we took with us when we left the refugee camp in Malaysia. It, along with fishing, were used to supplement the rations given by the UN Refugee Agency.
The garden portraits in this show represent the strength of the Vietnamese community and the ability of immigrants to adapt in their new homeland. Many of the people in the photographs said that they care for a garden so that they can watch it blossom—nothing more and nothing less—and because it gives them peace of mind to connect with the land and air.
Binh Danh
New Orleans, 2018
