Tropical Siesta

Phan Thao Nguyen’s work is based on her research into the life and work of French Jesuit missionary, Alexandre de Rhodes, who is considered the father of the romanised Vietnamese script that is still in use today. Tropical Siesta tells an imaginary tale of rural Vietnam, informed by de Rhodes’ colourful observations as he travelled through the country in the 17th century.

The universe created by Phan is one populated only by children, who make up an agricultural community. They engage not only in farming work, but play games of make-believe – recreating, for instance, de Rhodes’ accounts of various barbaric methods of punishment, as well as a folktale of the worship of a Chinese princess as a water goddess.