About three times a week during the COVID-19 lockdown in Paris, Phi Long sat in prayer at Saint-Paul Church on Rue Saint, reflecting on Jesus’ words, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing,” spoken on the day of His crucifixion.

During his residency at A. Farm, Phi Long experimented with and created “Hic Domus Est Dei No. 5” — a five-meter-diameter circle made of yellow cloth in the garden, symbolizing the Crown of Thorns. Almost like a religious ritual, he tended to the circle daily, using a broom and water to ensure the cloth retained enough weight to maintain its shape against the rain, wind, and sun.

Simultaneously, Phi Long created a series of drawings depicting the Crown of Thorns, using ink and gold on paper. These drawings drew from the power of imagination and memory, ranging from documentary depictions of thorns to the symbolic representation of the crown placed on the head of Christ, as he had envisioned it.

This body of work was initiated in Paris, France as part of the Artist Residency for Villa Saigon Reciprocity Program 2020, in partnership with the Institut Français and the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris

SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Teams at MoT+++, Sàn Art and the Nguyen Art Foundation