» Long Time No See

The works Long Time No See, One Line Man and Vietnamese Veteran Testimonial result from the project Long Time No See, exploring the memory of the American War in Vietnam and the ongoing legacy of chemical warfare. Over a two year period (2018–2022), Orejarena & Stein worked closely with a community of Vietnamese veterans and their descendants who live at Lang Huu Nghi – a residence in Hanoi for veterans and younger generations affected by Agent Orange, a genetically mutating chemical weapon used by the US during the war.

The videos in Long Time No See are dream-like vignettes that Orejarena & Stein co-directed with said Vietnamese veterans, blurring the lines between memory and reality, challenging traditional barriers between subject and author. In this work, the veterans expressed their relationship with the war through a series of freely associated images, often depicting surreal alterations of memory or powerful natural forces and phenomena.  

(Edited from text excerpts provided by the artists and Sara van Bussel)