Phuong Ngo

Untitled No. 2–5, Untitled No. 7, Untitled No. 9–22, Untitled No. 27–30, Untitled No. 32–52, Untitled No. 54–109 (from ‘Collaborative racist paintings’) 2020–Ongoing

Phuong Ngo began ‘Collaborative racist paintings’ during Victoria’s first COVID-19 lockdown, in response to the anti-Asian sentiments that emerged in the pandemic’s wake. Confined to home, Ngo reached out to people in his network, mailing them a diptych he had painted in colours they had chosen from a well-known paint manufacturer’s ‘Oriental’ range, which includes paint names such as, ‘Pale Oriental’ and ‘Oriental Princess’. The term ‘Oriental’ is a Western word that has been used to ‘other’ or discriminate against people of colour. While the names were likely conceived without thought, they carry negative connotations for the artists, many of whom are of Asian descent.

Ngo asked his collaborators to personalise their painting with images or objects relating to ‘race, racism or colonisation’, with the co-author retaining ownership of the finished artwork. The 100 diptychs, which have been brought back together for APT10, embody much larger conversations about the complex cultural inferences and biases embedded, often unwittingly, within language.

Phuong Ngo’s collaborators are: Mevlana Adil, Hoda Afshar, Annelise Ahfat, Elyas Alavi, Michelle Antoinette, Anh Nguyen Austen and Kien Andrew Nguyen Merrick, Casey Ayres, Marnie Badham, Sabrina Baker, Sofi Basseghi, Zoë Bastin, Nathan Beard, Alison Bennett, Serena Bentley, Moorina Bonini, Jessica Bradford, Gaye Brimacombe, Adrianna Burnes-Nguyen, Lara Chamas, Kelly Chan, Brit Chapman and Vivian Cooper, Cindy Yuen-Zhe Chen, Yu Fang Chi, Jessica Clark, Phuong and Maya Cooke, Anita Cummins, Mig Dann, Tess Do, Léuli Eshrāghi, Gok-Lim Finch, Eugenia Flynn, Kellyann Geurts, Dominic Golding, Kate Golding, Michelle Hamer, Yusuf Ali Hayat, Brenna Hillier, Deanna Hitti, Ching Ching Ho, Tammy Wong Hulbert, Andrew Huynh, Pia Johnson, Zaiba Khan, Nikki Lam, Shirley Le, Jenna Lee, Owen Leong, Janelle Low, Annie Luo, Morganna Magee, Georgie Mattingley, Erica McCalman, Leah Jing McIntosh, Hayley Millar Baker, Jazz Money, Kimberley Moulton, Nithya Nagarajan, Steph Neoh, Telia Nevile, Anne Anh Thu Tran Nguyen, Hieu Nguyen, James Nguyen, Jamey Nguyen, Lana Nguyen, Paige Nguyen and Harrison Lee, Nanette Orly, Sheila Ngoc Pham, Jason Phu, Jamie Powell, Ryan Presley, Jinghua Qian, Hwafern Quach, Lucreccia Quintanilla, Deborah Ratliff, Nadia Rhook, Megan Robson, Sha Sarwari, Karen Schamberger, Leela Schauble, Jessie Scott, Soo-Min Shim, Nur Shkembi, Faz Shu, Talia Smith, Rhen Soggee, EJ Son, Vipoo Srivilasa, Tina Suraci, Ari Tampubolon, Cyrus Tang, Shireen Taweel, Julie Thach, Kylie Tran, Quyen Tran, Garry Trinh, Truc Truong, Zoe Wong, Louise Zhang and Siying Zhou.