An Viet (Well Settled)

2018
HD video, stereo sound
19 mins 20 sec
Sound design: Rob Szeliga
Colour grading: Clara Jo

Made with support by Royal Academy Schools, Hackney Chinese Community Services and the An Viet Foundation, and a range of other supporters.

The An Viet Foundation Project has led to a series of works including:

-Record, Retrieve, Reactivate exhibition
-An Viet (Well Settled) film
-Resettled Spaces Exhibition and booklet
-International group exhibitions and screenings of An Viet Film
-Little Vietnam Exhibition
-Teaching unit at the Royal College of Art titled ‘Archives on the move’
-The Vietnamese Room at Museum of the Home
-Resettlement Paintings

This film explores the An Viet Foundation- a closed down community centre in Hackney serving former Vietnamese refugees for over 35 years. The film presents a range of found materials inside the building, and a reading from Toan Vu, from his father’s autobiography.

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‘An Viet (Well Settled)’, 2018, is a video installation exploring the An Viet Foundation- a closed down community centre in Hackney formerly serving Vietnamese refugees for over 35 years providing language support, employment training, business advice, health and social activities, the first Vietnamese UK housing association called An Viet Housing Association, a restaurant and a Southeast Asian research institute. It was founded by Mr Vu Thanh Khanh MBE who was a Vietnamese boat refugee, the first Vietnamese councillor for Hackney. He recieved a MBE from the Queen in 2006. An Viet Foundation pioneered several projects including outreach educational workshops with secondary schools, proposals for a Vietnam Village as part of the London Olympics and economic development partnerships between the UK and craft villages in Hai Duong, Vietnam. They also created Vietnamese newsletters and projects to support those recovering from drugs related addictions following their time in Hong Kong refugee camps. Vietnamese refugees started arriving to Britain following the fall of Saigon in the Vietnam American War and subsequent wars with China and Cambodia. The UK resettled several thousand but its own dispersal policy created disenfranchisement, isolation and lack of community. Vietnamese refugees began to move to larger cities such as Birmingham and London, to self organise in order to support their own community needs.


The film revisits these many historical layers from the artist’s personal viewpoint as a second-generation Vietnamese Londoner. Pham introduces the film with a BBC news report from the late 90s, featuring Mr Vu recounting his escape from Vietnam. He then revisits the centre in 2018, where he facilitates conversations about the history of the An Viet Foundation such as a reading by Toan, Mr. Vu’s son, from his father’s autobiography. Pham also focuses on objects and materials within the building such as Vietnamese new year masks, multi coloured dragon costumes and archival images, reflecting on memory, time, light and Vietnamese music. The film celebrates the legacy of the An Viet Foundation’s achievements against a precarious socio-political backdrop and gentrification. Pham is interested in how civic activism can create a sense of belonging, pride and poignancy despite the futile act to affect social change in the face of broader structural issues.

Installation view at The Whitechapel Gallery, The London Open 2022, July 2022- September 2022
Photo credit: Damian Griffiths

Installation view at The Royal Academy Schools, The Schools show 2018, June 2018- July 2018
Photo credit: Andy Keate

Installation view at Space 39_ Berlin, November 1st 2018- 30th November 2018
Photo credit: TROI OI (Sung Tieu and Nhu Duong)

Installation view at Taipei Artist Village, Taiwan, December 1st 2018- 30th December 2018
Mandarin translation and photo credit: Taipei Artist Village