Between 2015–2018, Chung conducted her research project in Hong Kong with a group of former Vietnamese refugees, who were allowed to integrate into Hong Kong society upon the last camp being shut down in 2000. Chung comprehensively crosschecked materials from her library research with the refugees’ own accounts of escape journeys, living conditions in detention centers, screening process, protesting forced repatriation, being deported, and the impact of those policies on their lives. The research also focused on some of the now Hong Kong residents but with a stateless status, including a group of homeless Vietnamese–the leftover refugees from the last century, who were rejected by western host countries for their prior involvement with crimes in Hong Kong. With the support of Sophia Law, Spring Workshop, and Tai Kwun Contemporary, Chung and some of these refugees traced and visited the sites of former detention centers and camps with Spring Workshop team, including Victoria Prison and those on outlying islands. Chung then used Google Mapping to mark these places on a map of Hong Kong, as shown in the work Permanent Transitory Homes.

Moreover, Chung’s work in Hong Kong and research at the UNHCR in Geneva unearthed records and reports that shed light on the politics between host countries and with the UNHCR, notably the complex relationship between Hong Kong, U.K., China, U.S., and the UNHCR in handling this refugee crisis. Building relationship with the former refugees and focusing on places of transit such as Hong Kong, a port of first asylum (1975-2000) shaped Chung’s project writ large, which aimed to shift the established narrative and stigmatization of this refugee population – reclaiming the refugees’ agency through their participation in the making and in a series of public discussions with Hong Kong based human rights lawyers as a culminated result.

[The VNEP | HK Chapter was supported by Sophia Law, Que Nguyen, Son Hoang, Carol Tong Thi Xuan, Lavina & William Lim, Christina Li and her team at Spring Workshop, Tai Kwun Contemporary, Tyler Rollins Fine Art, and Asian Cultural Council NY. The project was contributed by Gladys Li, Mark Daly, and a group of former Vietnamese refugees residing in HK.]

Related Exhibitions:
Imagined Borders | 12th Gwangju Biennale, Korea | 2018
Dismantling the Scaffold | Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong | 2018
Superposition-Equilibrium & Engagement | 21st Biennale of Sydney | 2018
the unwanted population | Tyler Rollins Fine Art, New York | 2017
A Collective Present | Spring Workshop, Hong Kong | 2017
The Việt Nam Exodus Project | Hong Kong Chapter | Art Basel Hong Kong | 2016

◀︎ ▶︎ All Projects