Tuan Andrew Nguyen
Repercussions is a monumental sculpture that engages reincarnation as a framework for healing. Made from fragments of unexploded ordnance (UXO) recovered in the Quảng Trị region of central Vietnam, the site of the largest aerial bombardment in history, Tuan Andrew Nguyen transforms remnants of war into objects of contemplation and repair. By reimagining instruments of violence as vessels for healing, the work explores animism, embedded empathy, and the generative power of narrative.
The sculpture’s arches evoke both tracer fire and the limestone hills surrounding Chùa Hương, the Perfume Pagoda, a historic Buddhist pilgrimage site. The location holds personal significance for Nguyen: his grandmother, Ðặng Thị Lạc, a poet and former newspaper editor, once sought shelter there and later brought the artist to visit during his first return to Vietnam in 1998. Suspended from the arches are three demined UXOs—an MK82, M117, and AN64 bomb casing—polished to a mirror finish and transformed, in collaboration with sound healers, into resonant healing bells tuned to 432 Hz, a frequency believed by some to promote restorative effects.
Architectural in scale and reminiscent of the stabiles of Alexander Calder, Repercussions draws directly from Nguyen’s 2022 film The Unburied Sounds of a Troubled Horizon. The film follows a young metal scavenger in Quảng Trị who fashions kinetic sculptures from bomb fragments and comes to believe she is the reincarnation of Calder. Her journey is shaped by the true story of a monk who repurposed an unexploded M117 bomb into a bell, reflecting a belief that even objects created for destruction can be transformed through acts of compassion.
Throughout his practice, Nguyen works closely with communities marked by war, displacement, and historical erasure. In Repercussions, the material remnants of conflict become carriers of memory and resilience, suggesting how trauma can be reimagined as a space for renewal. The sculpture embodies the possibility that objects once intended to destroy life can be transformed into instruments of reflection, connection, and healing.