The development of 47 Days, Sound-less by Nguyễn Trinh Thi continues her exploration into modes of seeing through the moving image. 47 Days, Sound-less uses some of the same visual sources as that of her works, Vietnam the Movie (2015) and How to Improve the World (2021), which emphasise acts of listening and foregrounding “peripheries.”

Vietnam the Movie (2015) combines scenes from documentaries, mainstream Hollywood dramas and European arthouse films that depict Vietnam’s history from the mid-1950s to the late 1970s. From the aftermath of French colonialism to the Vietnam War, the work portrays how the country, its people and their struggles are depicted in cinema.

How to Improve the World (2021) is about listening. Set in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, where a large concentration of Indigenous groups live, the work reflects on the differences between how memory is processed by the eye and the ear while observing the loss of land, forests and ways of life.

This programme is held in conjunction with the exhibition 47 Days, Sound-less by Nguyễn Trinh Thi.

Please refer to the content advisory below for the two videos.