My Paradise

“My Paradise” shows an intermediate world, a model world with real people. A model Dong's father created as an idea of an Asian paradise serves as the stage for the video. From conversations with her father, she learned about what he pictures in this paradise for himself and her mother; stories based on everyday life and Asian soap opera. The main characters in this video are Dong's parents. Five stories depict everyday life in paradise: Flowers are watered, chickens are fed, people are strolling and riding on flying horses. Dialogue is completely absent from the videos: only five pieces of music accompany the clips. Guitarist and composer Nicholas Erismann wrote new compositions for all five videos in the style of Vietnamese songs. Quynh Dong creates hyper-real video works to provide an innate platform upon which she deliberately challenges cultural stereotypes.