Disrupting Male Gaze in Famous Vietnamese Paintings

Disrupting Male Gaze in Famous Vietnamese Paintings

Lan Vo

Inspired by the works of two photographers: Renée Cox’s Yo Mama’s Last Supper and Katarzyna Kozyra’s Olimpia, this experimental project seeks to use photography to explore and disrupt the “male gaze” in iconic Vietnamese paintings of women during the French colonial rule in 1930s and 1940s. I wanted to see how our collective of marginalized groups (women and femme-aligned non-binary folks) see and create visions of ourselves: What would we do differently? How does the gaze of the marginalized differ from what we define as the “male gaze”? For example, with Khue’s and Quyen’s photos, we reduced the size of the flower vases in order put emphasis on the women rather than the props as in the original paintings. Kim “Cua” offered two different versions of the same painting which shows her embracing both her femininity and masculinity with her dresses, Prada bag, and Muay Thai hard-trained body. Multiple photos (Khue’s, An’s, Ren’s, Sam Lien’s, Quyen’s and mine) have the subjects to stare directly at the camera as a way to challenge the photographer as the one being photographed. With said eye contacts, we hope to question the power dynamic between the subject and the artist: Who holds the power?

Special gratitude:

Ngọc Nguyễn, my student and trustee assistant,

Khuê Ngô and Nhật Anh, two of my sisters from Denison

Quyên Vũ, my cousin and “twin”

Châu Lê, my aunt from my chosen family

Ren and Kim “Cua,” whom the universe keeps nudging my way for the last 10 years

Sam Lien and Thiên An, like-minded friends and fellow scholars.

Download PDF
On the left is Tô Ngọc Vân’s Young woman by the lily painting depicting a woman in a white Vietnamese áo dài leaning her head downward to a white lily. Her right hand is caressing a lily petal and her left arm is resting on top of her head delicately.
Tô Ngọc Vân’s Young woman by the lily[1]
On the right is Khuê Ngô creating the painting in black and white. Instead of a white áo dài, she wears a dark-colored one. Instead of gazing at the lily, she (with her glasses) is directing her gaze toward the camera.
Khuê Ngô
On the left is Trần Văn Cẩn’s Little Thuy painting depicting a young female child with short dark hair and a white dress. The little girl, Thuy, is sitting on a brown chair in front of an old wallpapered background. She is slouching slightly and her shoulders drop forward while maintaining a neutral face expression. Her hands are clasped gently on her lap.
Trần Văn Cẩn’s Little Thuy[2]
On the right is Khuê Ngô’s recreation of the painting. She replicates Thuy’s neutral face expression while wearing an open white blouse, a tank top, and blue high-waisted jeans. Her black hair falls down her shoulders and her hands are laid on her knees. Her back is straighter than Thuy’s and she sits high on her hips. The background is vibrant red with some cherry blossoms peeking in from one corner. There are two Vietnamese bamboo masks on the wall as decoration as well as a bamboo room divider screen.
Khuê Ngô
On the left is Dương Bích Liên’s Ms. Mai painting depicting a young woman in a white Vietnamese áo dài with her hair in a bun behind her head. Her right hand is touching her shoulder while her left is grabbing onto her right wrist. The background is an ombre spread with brown, peach color, and light blue.
Dương Bích Liên’s Ms. Mai[3]
On the right is Sam Lien’s recreation of her own great uncle’s painting. Her posture remains the same as the painting, but she is sporting a men’s wristwatch and a modernized version of the áo dài with green leaves on the left half. The background white bricks with coffee-colored papers and green leaves matching Sam’s áo dài.
Sam Lien
On the left is Dương Bích Liên's Young woman in white áo dài depicting a short-haired woman sitting with her left knee up. Both of her hands seem to grab at her raised legs. Her hair flies in the wind in front of a brown and red background.
Dương Bích Liên’s Young woman in white ao dai[4]
On the right is Sam Lien’s recreation of the painting of her great uncle. Her short hair matches the painting. She sits with her right leg raised onto the bench, showing off the silk pants of the áo dài and her men’s wristwatch. Her background is plain with cream colored with two leaf fans as decoration. Sam positions her head right in front of the fans to create an illusion of a crown or Vietnamese mấn (headress).
Sam Lien
On the left is Lê Phổ’s Nostalgie painting depicting a woman in black áo dài and white sheer veil. She also dons a white headdress while embracing some white flowers. Her elbows rest on the wooden balcony rail. Her face is pale without any notable expression. Behind her is banana green curtains and sage colored screens.
Lê Phổ’s Nostalgie[5]

On the right is Châu Lê’s recreation of Lê Phổ’s painting. Her áo dài is also black but with large blue flowers. Her headdress and veil match the woman in the painting’s. She too is holding some tiny white flowers with her left hand and gently stroking them with her right. Châu is wearing dark makeup with dark brown lipsticks and heavy dark/orange eyeshadow. Her expression remains passive, and her gaze is cast far off. Her background is signature banana green of Vietnamese Cộng café in Hanoi. Touches of brown include the wooden rail Châu is leaning on and the bookshelf in the background.
Châu Lê
On the left is Nguyễn Tường Lân’s Pair of Friends depicting two women wearing white and rolling their hair up into braids on their head. One woman is holding a brown paper fan and looking toward something on her left. The other woman, however, is looking at her friend.
Nguyễn Tường Lân’s Pair of Friends[6]
On the right are Ren and Thiên An’s recreation of the painting. Ren (left) is wearing a white blouse, pastel pink dress, and big prescription glasses. Their hair is short and curly. Thiên An (right) is wearing a Mount Holyoke pastel blue sweatshirt. Her hair is longer than Ren and reaches just below her ears. She is turning her body sideway toward Ren’s. Both individuals are looking at the camera.
Ren and Thiên An
Nguyễn Gia Trí’s Composition painting depicts two women sitting in a field of flowers over a red background. One woman is in blue áo dài holding a Vietnamese đàn tỳ bà. The other woman is wearing a gold áo dài and lounging on the grass with one hand above her head and one caressing her cheek.

Nguyễn Gia Trí’s Composition[7]
Kim’s recreation of the woman in gold is in black and white. The camera focuses on her face as she lies on a concrete background with flowers scattered around her head. She has one hand above her head and caresses a nearby flower. Her other hand holds a piece of chicken feet and she is looking straight at the camera while taking a bite of the food. Instead of the traditional áo dài, Kim is wearing a spaghetti strap dres
Kim Trần’s embodiment of Nguyễn Gia Trí’s Composition painting #1
Kim’s recreation of the women in blue is also in black and white. There are two versions of it. Both depict Kim holding her expensive white Prada bag, with her fingers grazing the surface as if playing an instrument with strings. The version on the left depicts Kim with hair untied while wearing a one shoulder dress. She is holding a small white handbag in a pool of flowers around her. She is looking far off to the right side of the photo and her lips are slightly apart. The second version depicts Kim in a spaghetti strap dress. Her hair is loosely tied behind her head. Her bare left leg is pushed forward while her right one curls to a side below the knee. She is still holding the handbag. Her well-trained right arm is on display.
Kim Trần’s embodiment of Nguyễn Gia Trí’s Composition painting #2
Kim’s recreation of the women in blue is also in black and white. There are two versions of it. Both depict Kim holding her expensive white Prada bag, with her fingers grazing the surface as if playing an instrument with strings. The version on the left depicts Kim with hair untied while wearing a one shoulder dress. She is holding a small white handbag in a pool of flowers around her. She is looking far off to the right side of the photo and her lips are slightly apart. The second version depicts Kim in a spaghetti strap dress. Her hair is loosely tied behind her head. Her bare left leg is pushed forward while her right one curls to a side below the knee. She is still holding the handbag. Her well-trained right arm is on display.
Kim Trần’s embodiment of Nguyễn Gia Trí’s Composition painting #2
On the left is Lương Xuân Nhị’s Young woman by the lotus painting, depicting a woman in a white áo dài with one leg propped up the chair. Besides her is a table with an orange vase of white and pink lotuses. She has her left arm resting across her raised knee and her right hand is grabbing at the foot on the chair. The woman has prominent red blushes on her cheeks and red lipstick, with hair tied behind her head into a ponytail.

Lương Xuân Nhị’s Young woman by the lotus[8]

On the right is Quyên Vũ’s recreation of the painting. Her posture is similar to the painting. But she is wearing black glasses and her hair is hanging loose over her shoulders. Her lips are ajar and she is looking straight into the camera. Her make up uses red as the main color to match her nail polish. The flowers and vases that are used as props are considerably smaller than Quyen, which allows her to be the focal point of the photo.
Quyên Vũ
Above is Mai Trung Thứ’s La Cage painting depicting a woman holding a small saucer with tea in it and admiring a white bird in a cage. She seems to be standing in front of a balcony with trees in the background.
Mai Trung Thứ’s La Cage
Below is Nhật Anh’s recreation of the painting in black and white. Nhật Anh switches the traditional áo dài for a simple white puffy-sleeved dress. She is sitting on her legs while holding a small circular vase in her right hand. Instead of a real bird in a cage, Nhật Anh is holding a white paper crane in her left hand and gazing upon it.
Nhật Anh
ere is Lê Phổ’s Nude painting depicting a naked woman lying on a piece of white cloth while holding her breasts in her hands. The view is sideway; one can see both the side and front of her body. Her legs are slightly crossed, revealing her pubic hair. Her eyes are close and her hair is wrapped in a white cloth, perhaps having just gotten out of a shower/bath. Behind her is a jade color vase with soft pink flowers and green leaves.
Lê Phổ’s Nude
Here is the photographer’s recreation of Lê Phổ’s Nude painting. The photo is black and white with a couple of photos (taken in the mirror of her bathroom) stacking up on top of each other using double exposure. She is bare shouldered and staring at the camera with tired eyes. Her hair is wet from shoulders and there is a shadow of her two hands snapping the pictures with her camera hovering in front of her face.
Self embodiment of Lê Phổ’s Nude

Footnotes

[1] The painting’s original name in Vietnamese: Thiếu nữ bên hoa huệ.

[2] The painting’s original name in Vietnamese: Em Thuý

[3] The painting’s original name in Vietnamese: Cô Mai.

[4] The painting’s original name in Vietnamese: Thiếu nữ mặc áo dài trắng. Áo dài is the Vietnamese traditional dress for women. The plain white áo dài is often worn by students to convey femininity, purity, and virtuousness.

[5] The painting’s original name in Vietnamese: Hoài cố hương.

[6] The painting’s original name in Vietnamese: Đôi bạn.

[7] The painting’s original name in Vietnamese: Hoà Tấu.

[8] The painting’s original name in Vietnamese: Thiếu nữ bên hoa sen.