Hiep Duong Chi

4. 5. 2023

›That Time I Wished I Was a White Butterfly (Když jsem se chtěl stát běláskem)‹, 2021

That Time I Wished I Was a White Butterfly (Když jsem se chtěl stát běláskem)

That Time I Wished I Was a White Butterfly is an abridgement of the impressions and hardships I encounter as a descendant of immigrants. Seemingly different from the rest of society, I still have to deal with judgmental looks and prejudices, even though I was born and raised in the Czech Republic. It was difficult for my childhood brain to understand that I just do not fit in. Then, as a teenager, the natural desire to belong to a certain group manifested itself. That is when Czech Vietnamese usually start to become more interested in their roots. But due to various reasons, such as their nature or negative comments from adults, they may not find their way
in. I am still standing at an important crossroads: I have to choose which way to go and where I belong.

Hiep Duong Chi

holds a BA from the Institute of Creative Photography in Opava, was born in Děčín, Czechia. Photography formed part of his life from the very beginning – his grandfather ran a photography studio in Vinh, Vietnam, where his mother took photographs before she moved to the Czech Republic in the 1990s. His own work began along the lines of classic documentary photography, exploring notions of family, the Vietnamese community, or following events that caught his attention. During the pandemic, the artist instead began arranging, staging and creating still-lifes and portraits. In this work, he touches on the realities of life as a second-generation Vietnamese immigrant – That time I wished I was a white butterfly combines references to traditional customs with his own inner feelings.

#44 Empathy

The ability to empathise with others is a construct that has only been around for a few centuries. This does not mean that such a skill did not exist until then. However, the concept of empathy creates a field in which this ability oscillates from understanding the other party to understanding the self. And because such a playground can be quite expansive, and the playing balls of empathy can be ping-ponged from one side to the other, we decided to dedicate an issue of the magazine to this field.