Oskár Čepan

I consider art as a form of presenting my thoughts and ideas about the world, within which I can reflect on the past, present, or refer to the future. It is a kind of dialogue with the world / audience. Art cannot be apolitical because it concerns people and is created by people. And human is part of the community, society, and the country where politics is present. Politics concerns me as the daughter of migrants, and at the same time Vietnamese, who do not have political freedom in their home country. My parents are Vietnamese migrants who came to Slovakia before the Velvet Revolution. These two contrasting worlds are the basis for my thinking and the starting point for my future works. My parents are Vietnamese migrants who came to Slovakia before the Gentle Revolution. For me, these two contrasting worlds are the basis for thinking and the starting point for further work.

An important aspect in my work is coming back to history, to the memory of the family, nation, or world history - it is a source of evidence for something that has happened. The historical events that shaped me begin with the migration of my parents to Slovakia but continue back to the American War or French colonization, which formed today’s Vietnam. Without these events, I would not be who I am. I identify with my national identity when we call it Vietnamese-Slovak. I continue in this activist-artistic worldview. I see the rise of nationalist and neo-fascist tendencies as one of the main socio-political problems of our time, which can undermine the fragility of democracy. It is therefore important to address topics that can relate to the issues of democracy, tolerance and society.

I have approached these topics for example in works: Reframing Possibilities (2020), where I link the colonization history of Vietnam with my presence, A Citizen by Fluke (2018) helped me realize not only the fluidity of my identity, in Former Stories – New Histories (2018) I analyzed the family archive and found the space of diasporas as a variable and analyze having home in two places, work You are allowed to mix apples and pears here (2020) referred to the visual representation of different identities and nationalities using food material, and finally in the series Memoryless, Borderless and Nameless Space (2019) I referred to my own feelings and experience as a stranger in my homeland. The visual language I use is a language of search. Most of the photographs and works are created in staged settings. I don't stick to photography as a document, it's literally an image or a visual play that I use to deliver an idea. This acquired form of visuality is a shift from the traditional perception of the photographic medium, which can be beneficial to all parties involved.

My current dissertation topic of decolonization has begun in the Reframing Possibilities (2020) series. As Toni Morrison said,

"Colonization [and by extension decolonization] is closely related to racism and repression"

a theme that would be a continuous line in my work. I agree with Gabi Ngcobo's assertion, who said in an interview that we should all be "postcolonial". We would be contributing to a better society that is not based on difference but deconstructs imperialist, colonialist and ultimately capitalist views of race or identity.