Truc Truong: hai con lan việt kiều 2021

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4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art presents hai con lân việt kiều (Two overseas Vietnamese unicorns), _the first solo exhibition of emerging Vietnamese-Australian artist Truc Truong.

hai con lân việt kiều showcases a bespoke refashioning of traditional lion dance ensembles.

By reinventing the costume, Truong delves into the tradition of lion dancing and how the cultural ritual has come to reflect the diasporic nature of multicultural Australian identities.  

The costumes use panels of Truong's own clothing, draping out from beneath traditional Vietnamese lion heads. By utilising material assemblage and fabric bleaching to alter the lion dance costume, Truong articulates the nuances and challenges of assimilation, its impacts on her own familial history and the 'alterations' faced by Asian-Australian migrants in an era post-colonisation. Typically, lion dancing symbolises the removal of unwanted spirits. Here, Truong depicts how the fighting lions can transform and become microcosms of Asian-Australian generational wisdom. 

The series of contemporary lion dance performances will be held in Haymarket to herald Lunar New Year. Breaking with tradition, these performances showcase costumes by Truong, embodied and activated by dance performers. Donning a bespoke refashioning of the traditional lion dance costume hand-made by the artist, the performers will perform a celebratory dance that seeks to rid the world of the misfortune of 2020 and welcome a year of prosperity and happiness. 

For many, hai con lân việt kiều _enacts an unexpected encounter, helping to reignite the Sydney CBD's vibrancy over the summer festival period. In the past, traditional lion dances have been a common occurrence during Lunar New Year throughout Haymarket. hai con lân việt kiều_ represents an artistic response to the Lunar New Year tradition and the unprecedented changes that have impacted this annual ritual. The project ensures contemporary performance art reaches new audiences in an accessible and captivating way, heralding a new year and celebrating the dynamism of the local, vibrant Haymarket community.