Dinh Q. Lê
b. 1968, Hà Tiên, Vietnam | d. 2024
Untitled (from Cambodia Series), 1998
Lithograph on satin paper
Edition of 30 (18/30)
Courtesy the artist and P•P•O•W, New York

Dinh Q. Lê creates conceptual mixed-media work that unravels the complex history of Vietnam, issues of war and displacement, and Western representations of non-Western cultures.

Lê’s Cambodia Series reflects the flawed collective consciousness of Cambodia, shaped by his personal experience as a refugee fleeing Ha Tien, his hometown on the Vietnam-Cambodia border, which was devastated by the American War in Vietnam and later by the Khmer Rouge invasion and massacre. Among the works in this series, Untitled is a lithographic print that juxtaposes decorative elements from the Angkor Wat temple—constructed under oppressive regimes in dynastic Cambodia—with the faces of individuals representing countless victims of the Khmer Rouge’s brutal regime.