Australian sculptor makes “Notes on an Imaginary Culture”

Australian sculptor Clare Martin will open her new exhibition of sculptures, photographs and articles relating to ethnology, titled “Notes on an Imaginary Culture”, at the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology (VME) on March 24th.
This is Clare’s 3rd exhibition in Vietnam and her second exhibition at the VME sponsored by the Australian Embassy in Hanoi.
Since Clare Martin is an artist rather than an ethnographer, she has tried to imagine what it would be like to go on a journey of discovery, and find an unknown ethnic minority group. She imagined what customs would be new and strange and translated her imagination through the exhibits.
Clare’s exhibits are made from recycled materials, such as aluminium cans, because she “found” that her ethnic group used a lot of such things. They also used a lot of recycled culture, even using art as the basis of everyday things. There were signs that people of this ethnic minority group had lived on agricultural production and still keep farming practices in their present lives.
“Why should we admire this culture?” “They are living scatteredly, not close to each other but they have a strong sense of community. These people are very inventive and show great ability to make useful things from whatever available material. They also have a very good sense of humour. Let’s hope they survive”.
Since her first visit to Vietnam in 1991, Clare has travelled a lot and worked extensively in Vietnam. Clare twice took part in the Hue Sculpture Symposium in 2006 and 2008 respectively She also opened an exhibition on her experience of Vietnamese culture, titled Screening the Buddha, in Australia.
She is a member of the Australian National Association of Visual Artists.
The exhibition lasts until April 16th.