Untitled, Victory – Femininity

Funny, punning and intricate are the adjectives that one can think of Hoang Duong Cam’s Fat-free Museum (2006) photograph series. Even its name implies a puzzle, when the artist assigned the word ‘fat-free’, which refers to dairy products, to ‘museum’ – the academic and solemn shrine storing essence of human culture. Hoang Duong Cam piled multiple layers of images onto the original photographs, capturing landscapes or iconic Western art pieces at Metropolitan Museum in New York. Randomly integrated image layers are the artist’s fingers or face, and classic Vietnamese artworks. The contrasts between blur – clarity, or close-up – wide view of the image, the degree of recognition of international – local classics, are affiliating relationships on the surface of the work.