Open Studio + Artist’s Presentation: Slow Violence and the Gesture of Care

In this artist talk, the artist introduces their current research on slow violence—a form of harm caused by chemicals, toxins, and radiation whose effects unfold across timescales far beyond human perception. The research focuses particularly on post-Dioxin zones in Vietnam, while also extending to other post-conflict and post-contaminated landscapes.

Through a combination of approaches—ranging from matter-witnessing with corroded metal surfaces, to laboratory experiments where organisms interact with traces of violence, and field research conducted in affected environments, the artist examines how material bodies record and carry memories of harm.

The talk aims to open a space for recognising that violence is not only immediate or visible, but continues quietly in soil, metal, water, and living organisms long after the events that caused it. By understanding matter as alive and responsive, the research invites audiences to consider the long duration of these wounds and our entanglement with them.