In These Eyes Lies an Endless Ocean

How can the function of art extend beyond its aesthetic intentions? Quang Hai Nguyen approaches photography as a means to create communion and to better understand what it means to be Vietnamese. Nguyen’s ongoing photography project, In These Eyes Lies an Endless Ocean, creates a channel in which exchange and multi-directional understanding have the opportunity to flourish. In the artist’s words:

Nguyen also wants to explore the unease of creating self-definition as someone who is part of a diasporic community, while highlighting the unifying nature of shared feelings. The artist wants to create safe spaces through photography. “A space to remind Vietnamese people that it’s okay to feel a little lost. Photography can be a bridge for these experiences and feelings.”

Driven originally by a sense of loneliness and alienation, Nguyen describes their work as a stand-in for a family dinner. The intention behind In These Eyes Lies an Endless Ocean is to facilitate a kind of gathering to help lighten the burden of heavy feelings by emphasizing, sharing, and embracing vulnerability. Nguyen’s process begins with an exchange where they ask subjects how they might define the Vietnamese experience.