Ever altered: exploring the French colonial impact on Vietnamese Australian diasporic identity through archival art practice

This practice-led research project takes as its background context the history of French engagement with Vietnam from the 1787 Treaty of Versailles between Louis XVI and the Nguyễn dynasty, to the formation of the Indochinese Union in 1887 and the decolonisation of Vietnam in 1954. In doing so, it aims to unpack how French imperialism and the formation of French Indochina have informed and become embedded within the identity of the Vietnamese people, and in particular the identity of the Vietnamese diaspora in Australia. Utilising a selection of narratives and events from early engagements between Vietnam and France until the eventual formation of French Indochina, combined with my own lived experience as a Vietnamese Australian and the inherited memories of my elders and ancestors, to inform the creation of new artworks, my research aims to provide new insights into how colonialism has travelled through displaced communities. I seek to offer mechanisms to reframe an understanding of personal and collective identity, explore racial trauma and unpack personal histories of internalised racism and their relationship to Australian culture.