Whilst preparing for the exhibition, I contacted the artists who had their work selected. A lot of them returned with no response, however, a few came back to me which I had a chance to interact with them and it led to an opportunity to build a relationship with a new group.

One of the works titled ‘Agent Orange’ – about the how the chemical weapon affect on children during the Vietnam War was the one. Even though I didn’t directly interacted with the artist but with their teacher, it was apparent that they were very much pleased to be inform that work will be exhibited for two weeks. Furthermore, they separately approached Vietsocial – a social community site for Vietnamese in the UK and made into exhibition visit event to support the work and the artists.

I was asked to guide the exhibition and give in depth information to the visitors and answer to the questions they may have.

There were around 14-15 people who came by and I showed them around and hand out leaflets and NSI goods. I was worried if they’d be disappointed to discover the exhibition is not solely about Vietnam, however, they showed great interest on other artworks, also some of them asked about the motif of the exhibition, and about other works. They said very positive feedback along with some comments that they’d want to see the description on the method and material each artist use or wishing NSI to reach further to exhibit in countries where the artists are from.

At the end all the people – including myself- took a picture in front of ‘Agent Orange’, then they invited me to dinner as an aftermath. We had Vietnamese.

Next day, the artist sent a video message to the people came for the exhibition thanking for the support they showed on her work and others. This was something yet again, being a platform for marginalised voice such as young people to her community and reaching out to wider audience felt empowering. Even if it’s far away, but fact the artist was able to comprehend that her work was shown and been receiving an evoking response, it was striking to see.