The Playbook
In 2019, state budget proposals to build new Ho Chi Minh monuments once again made headlines. With each monument costing tens of millions of dollars, the plan sparked widespread criticism — especially in regions still struggling with poor infrastructure and social welfare issues. The controversy was nothing new, but its recurrence stirred my curiosity about these grand, costly structures quietly dotting the country’s landscape.
At the time, I had only seen two Ho Chi Minh monuments. Determined to see them all, I began seeking them out during every travel opportunity. On these journeys, I made a point of visiting every public monument dedicated to Ho Chi Minh, the embodiment of patriotism and nationalism in Vietnam, the figure whose teachings we’ve been made to memorize since childhood.
One morning at the monument in Pleiku City, I met two veterans tracing their old battlefield. We shared a conversation, and as we parted, they left me with a simple message: “Remember to love this country.”
Their words reminded me of the state propaganda I’d grown up with, yet they carried a different sentiment. Unlike those big slogans wrapped in vague, poetic ideals—where love for the homeland is inseparable from allegiance to the ruling party and the ideology of socialism—theirs was a love stripped of political overtones. It was a love rooted in the very soil, the people, the bonds, the culture, and the countless intricacies that make up Vietnam.
These photographs, taken throughout my search for Ho Chi Minh monuments, were not originally conceived with political intent. Yet in retrospect, I see this body of work as a panoramic reflection of a country steadily tilting toward nationalism under the ruling party’s leadership—an attempt to grasp how this land and its culture are evolving. At once tongue-in-cheek and sincere, it serves as my personal playbook to map out how to love this country.
The Monument
The symbolic significance of Ho Chi Minh for Vietnamese authorities cannot be overstated. He acts as a potent instrument for upholding the ideals and tenets of the Vietnamese Communist Party, instilling in the country a sense of patriotism and allegiance.
The Monuments is an exploration of the ephemeral nature of memory within the public and personal realms. Set against the backdrop of Vietnamese history and cultural heritage, this work interrogates the relationship between the architectures of Hồ Chí Minh monuments—symbols of collective memory—and us, the individuals who interact with them.
At the heart of the project lies the statues of President Hồ Chí Minh scattered across Vietnam. The statues’ solemn and revered presence represents a unified historical narrative and ideology, but at the same time, it reflects the fluidity of the meanings and purposes ascribed to them.
The project invites a reexamination of how we engage with history and its physical embodiments, reflecting on how the collective memory imposed by these monuments often overshadows individual narratives. Monuments are often erected to glorify and commemorate, but as time passes, they become relics not only of the past but also of how we have constructed and reconstructed the dominant narratives.
