Assimilated Memory

artistic research, part of the Heritage trajectory

Since 2023, Sara has been doing artistic research, tracing the many ways her Vietnamese-Belgian heritage shaped her and her (fragmented) community. It is a journey of reclaiming the memory and the imagination, researching how dominant narratives shape the way we see and portray ourselves. She explores how she can give voice to the experience of always being both insider&outsider as a bicultural person. And how to deal with the many assimilated memories she inherited from her ancestors. Over the past three years, she has been gathering not only memories, but also the lack thereof- - the things forgotten or repressed, putting them into the context of history, pop culture and liberation.

This way, Sara explores her heritage as a story embedded in her own body marked by racism, disconnection, but also pride.

The zine ‘On assimilated memory’ shows a first impression of this research. It marks one of her first attempts to give shape to these experiences through a kaleidoscopic form of storytelling. Slowly piecing together the many pieces scattered by assimilation.

‘Assimilated memory’ is ongoing. Sara is currently fascinated by how assimilation influences relationships, queerness and friendship. She is also dreaming up a video-game within the universe of ‘Tracing Ancestral Spaces’.

with support of the Flemish Government