We Had Dreams, 2014
Screeprint on Hahnemühle Natural Line
70 x 100 cm
edition of 3 unique prints
We Had Drams, 2014
edition of 25 zines, numbered and signed
sewn binding, open spine, soft cover, original photograph each
48 pages, 33 x 25 cm
selected spreads from We Had Dreams:
I, Van Lem, 2015
folded letter,
screen print on backside of photograph
9 x 13 / 10 x 15 cm
I AM WRITING/ BECAUSE I CAN NOT FORGET/ TIME.TOGETHER/
WHEN WE ARRIVED/ I COULD NOT SAY A WORD/
I WILL NOT SEE YOU AGAIN
installation view
We Had Dreams, 2015
I, Van Lem, framed
sun-lit newspaper, framed
mahagoni, laquer, steel
The limited edition Zine We Had Dreams (2015) creates a multi-layered narrative of recent Vietnamese history by highlighting the tension between the individual and collectivist social structures. The work interweaves found images—photographs and letters from the 1950s to the 1980s from flea markets in Ho Chi Minh City—with contemporary images of a society undergoing rapid change. Poetic, sometimes surreal image-text compositions form a deliberately subjective narrative that brings tradition, longing, and collective values into dialogue with the desire for self-determination and transformation. The zine is presented in an exhibition alongside related elements, including works on paper and sculpture.