"I'M FROM A DARK FUTURE [OF VIETNAM]"

DEC 2020

“I’m from a dark future [of Vietnam]” is my endeavor to encourage young (Vietnamese) people to read and (re)consider the voice of their country in the South China Sea conflict as well as threats of violence and war right ahead.

Territorial conflicts in the South China Sea have recently heated up the threat of war between disputing parties, including China and Vietnam. In the context of growing militarization and harassment from China, Vietnamese Government has gathered and published several documentations proving sovereignty of Vietnam on Paracel and Spratly Islands (as known as Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos). However, those political actions have not reached a wide range of Vietnamese people, especially the youth, since there is a lack of fluent and interesting narration. My project - “I’m from a dark future [of Vietnam]”- is an attempt to bring political problems, particularly current territorial disputes, closer to young people.

Shifting the viewpoint to a more subjective angle, I speculated a dark scenario of Vietnam, where the war between China and my country on the sea occurs in 2030. Putting myself in the position of a woman who travels back in time from “a dark future”, I figure out a point where raw data and personal perspectives meet and collaborate. Through her own path of gathering, processing and sending out information, the past, present and (possible) future of the South China Sea Dispute interleave and show up in a more approachable language.

THE TIMELINE