Conscription Pictures reinterprets combat uniforms worn by American and Southern Vietnamese conscripts during the American-Vietnam War utilizing pork as a sculptural material. The combat uniforms have been adapted to reflect the anatomy of pigs. The jacket lapels have been extended to form pig ears while the boots take on the shape of pig trotters. The surface of these sculptures mimic the texture of a roasted pig’s skin. The sculptures hang on a custom made rack inspired by Cantonese-barbeque shops.
This artwork is a homage to the women-led anti-war efforts that the artist’s grandmother was a part of during the American-Vietnam War while living in Chợ Lớn, the Cantonese district of Ho Chi Minh City. Women in Chợ Lớn used the colloquial Cantonese greeting, “what did you eat today?”, as a means to form a secret code to warn each other of the incoming presence of military conscription officers. When the answer was “pork”, a hard to come by commodity during that impoverished time, the women would gather fighting-aged men who were out in public to hide them in shops and homes to avoid detection from conscription officers.
Alvin Luong, Conscription Pictures (1, 2, 3, 4), 2022, 68 x 73 x 20” (WxHxD), acrylic, aluminum, pork, pine, salt, zinc plated clamps.
