HUONG NGO
I make work across mediums, traversing borders and making connections through differences. At once intimate and political, my practice listens for what remains. My current work reframes industrial labor as a site of memory, care, and ingenuity—and invites viewers to reconsider what kinds of creativity are legible within capitalist structures. This project emerged from a desire to understand my parents’ early years as immigrants in the U.S., working as assembly line laborers in electronics factories. My interest in their gardening practice developed alongside their history as paid laborers as it created a different relationship with time and memory.
Thoughts on the lab
As someone with more experience with materials, I wasn’t sure what my residency with Latitude would be like. While photography is not usually associated with experimentation of materials, I was lucky to work with Pepper Kelly, Simon Spartalian, and Thomas Dryanski who encouraged me to work with a range of different substrates like fabric, iridescent papers, and natural fibres. This expanded the potential of photography and of material experimentation for me. I was able to produce many objects for my solo exhibition at DePaul Art Museum while at the residency and connect with local artists like Alex Chitty and Jessica Pierotti.