Pictorial installation of objects inspired by construction sites and simple objects that constitute a home. 

Statement

Make Shift comprises of representations in lacquer painting of four stacks of bricks, a modest dinner tray for four, a straw mat, floor tiles, and a set of buckets on a rainy day – basic articles found on any construction site. Together they reflect the provisionary nature of life while biding time waiting during the construction of a true home. Visible on almost every street throughout this city, this condition is merely an echo of the changing urban landscape of Hanoi.

An offshoot of Specula, the works from this exhibit emerged from my experiments in new surfaces to create Specula’s curved ceiling. Make Shift includes my experiments using Vietnamese sơn ta heat cured onto iron and recycled metal, an old industrial Japanese lacquer technique that I adapted to natural Vietnamese lacquer.