What Can We Write on Rice Paper?
A community-based concept by Xuân-Hạ (since 2021)
Rooted in communal practice, What Can We Write on Rice Paper? engages participants through roundtable discussions, creative activities, and shared meals. The project explores rice paper not only as a culinary staple but as a material of historical and cultural significance, tracing its connection to migration, adaptability, and preservation.
Vietnamese rice paper, widely consumed yet undocumented in its origins, carries the legacy of exiled migrants expanding into new territories. As a lightweight, portable food, it represents both survival and cultural continuity. Similar "spring roll" variations across Southeast Asia such as popiah, lumpia, kuaitiao lui suan - reveal a shared history of movement and reinvention.
Using rice paper as a medium, Xuân-Hạ invites communities to write, draw, and reflect, transforming an everyday object into a space for dialogue. The project questions cycles of migration, creation, and belonging, reminding us that human hands can shape everything—but not everything is made by humans alone.
Communal Gathering Workshop:
2021 Open Studio at CAB Hoian, Hoi An, Vietnam
2021 Jakarta Biennale ESOK 2021
2022 Field Guide session “What we can write on rice paper?” at Future Leaders Program 2022, Bundanon, Australia.
2023 Communal gathering at Hyphenated Project, Melbourne, Australia. Supported by Australia Council for the Arts.
2023 Communal gathering session - Ecoversities Alliance, in Hoi An, Vietnam. Hosted by VCIL Community.
2023 Presentation at “Southeast Asian Arts Forum 2023”, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), Singapore.
2024 "DAMN* A Sông in Berlin” - communal gathering event co-organized by DAMN* and A Sông, Berlin, Germany.
2024 Presentation at GMS Residency, Chiang Rai, Thailand