Almine Rech is pleased to announce the inauguration of Tia-Thuy Nguyen's new permanent installation in Hanoi, Vietnam

Almine Rech is pleased to announce that artist Tia-Thuy Nguyen has inaugurated her new permanent installation in Hanoi, Vietnam

Typhoon Yagi hit Hanoi on September 7, 2024, knocking down and breaking more than 25,000 trees in the inner city area. Among them was a 70-year-old Nacre tree (Khaya senegalensis), standing at 20 m tall, located in Co Tan square, Hoan Kiem district. This Nacre tree belongs to a group of trees brought to Vietnam from Africa by the French as part of an urban landscaping pilot project (this process began in the late 19th century). Realizing that the presence of this type of tree holds a certain historical significance to the development of the capital urban landscape, artist Tia-Thuy Nguyen transformed the life of the fallen Nacre tree - giving it a new ability, a new shape, a new life. In her eyes, the tree no longer living does not mean that its life cycle has ended, the energy in it is not lost, nor can its 'life' end. 

Tia-Thuy Nguyen creates her work based on the shape of the tree itself, mounting multiple steel sheets atop its flesh to create a second skin for the object. With meticulous calculations of every corner, Tia-Thuy Nguyen and her collaborators demonstrate their efforts to erase the desolation of death. She hopes to ‘capture’ the different phenomena that occur around the work, linking destruction and reconstruction, disintegration and harmony, and death and rebirth. 

Photo credits: NOTES