Bui Cong Khanh's artistic exploration delves into the intricate social, cultural, and political fabric of Vietnam through a series of vases. A "Shooting Target (1, 2)" and "After the War (1, 2)," designed as missile-shaped vessels in midnight blue and gold hues, embellished with barbed wire motifs and dart-boards, symbolically resonating with the direct impact of warfare, transcending allegiance to any specific side.

Positioned symmetrically to the altar's right and left, these vases not only exude formal harmony but also carry an underlying narrative that speculates on the constructed division between North and South Vietnam, a fracture that has endured for decades. Khanh interrogates the lasting impact of war on Vietnamese society, urging viewers to contemplate the deep-rooted implications of historical conflict and the ongoing effects of division within the country.

Bui Cong Khanh (Danang, b. 1972) is a Hoian-based Vietnamese artist whose visually and conceptually-sophisticated practice ponders social issues in Vietnam today. Khanh uses local Vietnamese materials such as ceramics, textile, and carved timber as covert clues to critical significance. His work is in major public collections in Asia, Australia, Europe and the United States.

The pair of floor vases (Shooting Target (1, 2) ) shaped like missiles, aesthetically weighty with their midnight blue and gold, and adorned with barbed wire motifs and dart-boards, signal war directly, unconcerned by one side or another. In his picturing of disposable, utilitarian, and interchangeable clothing to signify factional opposition, Khanh can be seen as querying the War’s ongoing dividing effect.