The Generation of Victory

‘The Generation of Victory’ [The he cua chien thang] is a series of multiple drawings depicting war monuments from across Vietnam that together ‘emphasise the heaviness of “victory” spirit across generations.’

Vietnam is dotted with war monuments. They are present in every province from the North to the South and are usually located on the site of a specific battle or heroic action. Socialist realist in style and uniform in format, they are exclusively celebratory and heroic expressions of Victory. Commissioned by the Communist Party these monuments convey the strength of the collective in overcoming the enemy.

Artist Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai travelled around the country photographing war monuments while undertaking fieldwork for her commission. She later drew the monuments on small sheets of gridded paper from vintage notebooks, similar to those used by students of her generation in school. Each drawing focuses on groups of figures in such monuments, showing advancing soldiers, determined men, women, and children carrying guns, sticks and flags, flowers, or hammers: ‘...something as they have to flex their bodies to move forward’.

The artist seeks to show how a state sanctioned memory of war pervades many aspects of Vietnamese society. She asks us to reflect on the absence of depictions of the reality of war – such as violence, loss and mourning. She alludes to the weight of individual trauma and grief unable to be expressed at these public places of memory.

The series is ongoing as Thanh Mai continues to collect images of statues and monuments in an immersive study process.

Mai Nguyen Thi Thanh (b.1983, lives and works in Hue, Vietnam) was commissioned to create art works in response to Vietnamese and Australian experiences of the Vietnam War. She undertook a research residency at the Memorial in Canberra and fieldwork in Vietnam. Her project examined and questions the roles and consequences of nationalism effecting different generations during and after the Vietnam War. The commission was co-funded by the Memorial and the Department of Communications and the Arts’ Anzac Centenary Arts and Culture Fund.

• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Phan thiet]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Bong Trang - Nha Do]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Nui Ba]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang ong Cuu]
• The Generation of Victory [Truong Bon chien thang]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Durong 9]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Thinh Long]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Tra Cu]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Dea Nhong Duong Lieu]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Cua Viet]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Mo Cay]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Long Khanh]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang So Tieu]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Ba Ria]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Mau Than-Vinh Long]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Bau Bang]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Phouc Long]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Tren Song]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Phouc Thanh]
• The Generation of Victory [Can cu tinh uy Bien Hoa U1]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang 2-4-1975]
• The Generation of Victory [location unknown]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Cam Doi]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Ba Hon]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang QK9]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Tam Bo]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Nga Ba Dong Loc]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Dakto Tan Camh / 24-4-1972]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Mau Than Vinh Long]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang San Bay Bien Hoa]
• The Generation of Victory [6.5.1965 Chien thang Nui Thanh]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Junction City]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Ba Gia 1965]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Bac Thus Duc]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Ong Hao]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang 30-4-75]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Loc Ninh]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Chuong Thien]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Quy Nohn]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Mang Den]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Khe Sanhn]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Khong Quan My]
• The Generation of Victory [Chien thang Chuong Thien]