Anh Van Nguyen

Be Bao Bun is a 30-second animation looping the daily routine of an individual consuming bao buns to express themself. My work is inspired by a Vietnamese phrase saying a child’s gloomy face is like an afternoon bao bun, mushy and undesired. A phrase in which the person’s self-expression is linked to a characteristic of an unalive object. There is no malicious intention behind it, as it is usually used by adults to tease kids and hint at them to look brighter and behave properly. However, growing up, I hated being called that, as it made me feel ashamed of myself for hindering people around me by crying and being sad. Through that experience, I found it interesting how it is a roundabout way of showing disapproval of the person’s behavior by attaching them to an object that no one desires. Thus, I create an absurd version of reality where the situation is flipped, with the individual being the inanimate one, and their entire emotional behavior depends on consuming the anthropomorphic object that is the bun. Since the action keeps repeating itself, even though the act itself seems nonsensical, it transforms into common sense.

Two-Scales is a 60-second 1920×1080 pixel art animation. This animation symbolizes escapism, a temporary escape from reality, by indulging in games. This piece consists of two main parts; one side represents the space of reality, while the other side represents the space of escapism. Tackling the inner conflict of human nature, it shows that each person needs to evaluate and position themselves appropriately so that they cannot break down at any moment by getting too attached to one specific thing in life.

Spiral is a 42-second animation done by applying charcoal and erasing to create motion. It is done through observing and monitoring objects, then transforming them through the spiral. From eyes to the running body, from dark to light, the animation speaks to the transformative nature of things in life through the use of charcoal. More often than not, it is easy to assign a certain form and silhouette to things we are familiar with and stick with it. Through applying and erasing charcoal continuously with each frame, the work expresses the moment in time as things drawn are shifting, whether it is significant or not.