Through moving images, sculpture and installations, Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn explores stories omitted or erased from official archives, following threads across territories that map out a counter-history of colonialism. His method is personal, bringing out individual figures and their life trajectories to distill abstract history into embodied narratives.
During visits to Dakar, Nguyễn became interested in the experiences of Senegalese soldiers deployed to Indochina by the French colonial army, and the wives they met in Viet Nam and who, in many cases, followed or returned with them. For many of these families, finding a place in Senegalese society involved struggle and solidarities. While making a first film in collaboration with descendants in Dakar, Nguyễn became aware of one of them, known as “Bouba Chinois”, a long-time robber and bandit with a working-class, folk-hero reputation.
In the Biennale Arte 2026, Nguyễn premieres Ñi demoon ñoo dellusi (2026), a two-channel video installation featuring an now-elderly Bouba amid archival footage and photographs of his family, particularly his beloved mother, Đợi. The film explores how one finds anchor in society despite often complicated realities. Bouba faces the viewer squarely – hero and anti-hero, fragile and rebellious. In the protagonist’s own words: “Bouba Chinois, well, he’s a Senegalese myth”.
—Fatima Bintou Rassoul Sy
