Finding A Self Through Life Writing - TÌM TÔI TRONG CHỮ
www.timtoitrongchu.com/The community of women (anyone who identifies as a woman) and trans men in particular, and the LGBTIQ community in general, has been having a great presence in all aspects of life, through cinema and reality TV shows, art exhibitions and media, as well as discussions relating to policy advocacy. However, these communities also experience complex and intersecting challenges relating to migration status, culture and ethnic identities. According to research by ISEE, in 2012, 79% of writing on LGBITQ individuals published in the media are about those based in urban areas, with only 4% covering the stories of those from disadvantaged, remote rural and mountainous regions. Therefore, it is vitally necessary to explore the discourse and voices of these communities through the intersecting lenses of ethnic identity and location, so that we have a better view of these individuals and highlight their presence and their role in constructing an equal, equitable and humane society.
Through this lens, the “Finding a Self Through Life Writing” project targets individuals who identify as women and trans men, who are migrant workers or ethnic minorities from the northern regions of Vietnam. The project focuses on using language and the practice of life writing as a training and research tool to help women and trans men explore their identity and self, and express and build a discourse of that identity with their own words. Through this, participants may find a freer or more open self and have the ability to define their own concept of freedom in a society where there may still be limited acceptance and integration opportunities for their identity.
Sixty pieces of writing, long and short, 30 artworks and products of 20 participants have accompanied the “Finding a Self Through Life Writing” project, and through them, stories about life and the ways we face all its joys, sorrows and difficulties have been vividly told. They will not just be written and left hidden, but through this exhibition, these writings and works of art will evoke emotions and thoughts in the audience when they interact with these works. Individual selves of their authors will be reconstructed and facilitate connections between individuals and the society they reside in. These writings and artworks were exhibited at the event FINDING A SELF THROUGH LIFE WRITING - AN EXHIBITION. The exhibition took place from 28 April 2022 to 1 May 2022. The exhibition has brought in the most original views on the self-identity of each individual in minority communities, showing how each person can find their own way to interact with the diversity in the multicoloured society we live in.