A Bowl of Love is part of the project Lost Souls, White Bowls: Documenting Vietnamese Femicide, implemented by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), the Center for Creative Initiatives in Health and Population (CCIHP), and Varan Vietnam, in collaboration with the Vietnam Women’s Museum, the Vietnam Gender-Based Violence Prevention and Response Network (GBVNet), and the VNU School of Interdisciplinary Sciences and Arts (VNU-SIS).

The exhibition concept was conceived by medical anthropologist and visual artist Pauline Oosterhoff together with filmmaker Nguyen Anh, and further developed through collaborations with Vietnamese traditional and contemporary artisans working with ceramics, silk, metal, and paper votive offerings.

About Embers – Video – 8 minutes
Director: Nguyễn Ánh
Documentary Film Screened as Part of the Exhibition:

The women in this film know violence against women from different sides: as survivors, lawyers, journalists, researchers, child rights advocates and a social worker. Each woman was filmed in the same simple setting in Bát Tràng while we worked together.

Each woman created her own set choosing from fixed elements: silk, wood, a Bát Tràng bowl, incense and a small chair. Each was also free to decide how much of herself to reveal.

An interesting connection between Pauline Oosterhoff and Varan Vietnam dates back to Pauline’s early engagement with documentary filmmaking. Before becoming a medical anthropologist, a researcher in gender, health, human rights and development, and an artist, she studied documentary filmmaking at New York University.

Fifteen years ago, Pauline also collaborated with Varan Vietnam to produce Trong Hay Ngoài Tay Em, Varan Vietnam’s first feature-length documentary, directed by Trần Phương Thảo and Swann Dubus.

Director Nguyen Anh, whose documentary Embers (Lửa còn) is featured in the exhibition, is also an alumna of the 2024 Varan Vietnam Documentary Filmmaking Workshop.

EVENT INFORMATION

Throughout the exhibition, the exhibition’s co-creators will personally lead guided tours, offering visitors an opportunity to engage more deeply with the works and the stories behind them.

The detailed schedule will be announced separately.
Organized by: Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Center for Creative Initiatives in Health and Population (CCIHP), and Varan Vietnam.
In collaboration with: Vietnam Women’s Museum, GBVNet, and VNU-SIS.
Funded by: Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Grant No. AH/Z506382/1.