Hand-carved gmelina wood.

Description

This is a replica of Bataan Death March Marker Mile 00, a white concrete obelisk that marks the start of the path taken by nearly 75,000 Filipino and American soldiers as prisoners of the Japanese Imperial Army after the Fall of Bataan on April 9, 1942. There are 138 Death March markers, one marking each kilo- meter. Placed beside a main road, they have been subject to damage, some accidental, some negligent, some intentional. The markers were erected by the Filipino-American Memorial Endowment Incorporated several decades after the war. While not directly re- lated to Vietnam, this work exemplifies Tuan Andrew Nguyen's practice to explore the power of memory and its potential to act as a form of political resistance worldwide. His practice is fueled by research and a commitment to communities who have faced traumas caused by colonialism, war, and displacement. Through his continuous attempts to engage with vanishing or vanquished historical memory, Nguyen investigates the erasures that the colonial project has brought to bear on certain parts of the world.

Description from "Vietnam in Transition, 1976–Present" Exhibition Catalog, 2023, p.42.