That’s Enough, Dear

Velvet and inkjet print on paper
24 posters, 12 in x 18 in each
2022

For decades, free Vietnamese newspapers have been a staple in my mother’s house, picked up every weekend at the Asian supermarket or Vietnamese-run pharmacy. While staying with my parents in their home for several months during the pandemic, I collected pages from my mother’s stash of Thời Báo related to “Ông Trump,” as he was the subject of many emotional arguments between us.

After the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021, our opposing political views were further cemented, as was the case in many Vietnamese immigrant families, leaving my parents and I to concede that our positions would likely not change. Thus, the title of this work is a translation of my father’s conciliatory interjection “thôi đi em,” which he often whispered to my mother during our disagreements.

Just as my father’s gentle words could placate us, the posters’ soft black velvet, a layer that both obscures and highlights texts and images, can be stroked for a similar soothing effect.

The project’s font style is lifted from a Vietnamese propaganda poster from the late 1950s.