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Danh Vo - 2.2.1861 - 2

Danh Vo 2.2.1861 2009

Price: £312

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Open edition
Ink on paper, writing by Phung Vo
Unframed
29.6 x 21 cm | 11 5/8 x 8 1/4 in.
Published by White Cube, 2009

• The image of the artwork shows a proof, not the final edition, and each edition may vary slightly from this image.
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• This edition is sold unframed.
• Collection is not possible for this edition at White Cube Bermondsey.
• Each handwritten letter arrives in an envelope mailed by the artist's father directly. Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery.

Danh Vo’s father Phung Vo is a frequent collaborator of the artist who has contributed to the creation of artworks with his skilled penmanship. In Vietnam, Phung Vo learnt the art of calligraphy – the education a remnant of Vietnam’s French-colonial past – and when the family migrated to Denmark, he used this skill to make signage and menus for his family’s food business. 2.2.1861 is a hand-copied version of a letter written by the French missionary Jean-Théophane Vénard by Phung Vo, beautiful in its formal qualities. The artwork is titled after the date of the letter, originally written in 1861, and reproduces a heartfelt note from Jean-Théophane to his father, prior to his own beheading in Vietnam. In it, Jean-Théophane describes how we are all flowers in God’s garden, waiting to be picked – a metaphor that speaks to Vo’s own interests in flowers as a symbol of colonial power and the monopolisation of beauty. 

This work brings together several recurring themes in the artist’s practice, from migration to colonisation, to the pastoral scene as a place of contemplation and rest. Phung Vo does not speak French, so the initial copying of the text was unembodied; occurring without understanding and only as an act of repetition and meditation. After several years of writing the letter, Phung Vo has since read a translation and, as a devout Christian, he is thrilled to be copying such a beautiful letter and considers Vénard to be a saint. The letters are made to order and this work will continue until Phung Vo’s death, or until he is no longer able to write. This work has been installed in almost every one of Vo’s exhibitions since the series began in 2009.

Each handwritten letter arrives in an envelope mailed by the artist's father directly. Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery.

English translation of text:


20 January 1861.

J.M.J.

Dearly honoured and beloved Father,

As I still await my sentence, I wanted to send you another goodbye, which will probably be the last. The days in prison have passed peacefully. All those around me honour me, and many love me. From the highest official to the last soldier, all regret that the royal law condemns me to death. I have not had to endure torture, like many of my brothers. A quick cut of the sword will separate my head, like a springtime flower that the gardener picks for his pleasure. We are all flowers planted on this earth and picked by God in his time, one slightly earlier, one slightly later. One is the blushing rose, one the virginal lily, another the humble violet. Let us all try to please the sovereign Lord and Master with the fragrance or brilliance we are given.

I wish you a long, peaceful and virtuous old age, dear Father. Carry the cross of this life softly, after Jesus, to Calvary for a happy passing. Father and son will meet again in paradise. I, small and ephemeral, go first. Goodbye.

Your ever devout and respecting son,
J. Théophane Vénard

Danh Vo

11 October – 16 November 2024

Mason’s Yard, London

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