The art world is preparing to host a highly visceral and tactile narrative at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery. London-based artist KV Duong invites us not merely to an exhibition space but to a domestic fiction woven from latex and memory with his first solo show at the gallery, “Where Wound Becomes Water.”
Longing for an Unlived Past: Anemoia
Born in 1980 and originally from Ho Chi Minh City, Duong is a transnational figure who was born in Vietnam, raised in Canada, and now lives in London. The most captivating aspect of the exhibition is the artist’s transformation of the gallery into an immigrant home from 1980s London social housing. Duong pursues the question: “What kind of childhood would I have had if my family had come to London instead of Toronto in 1987?”
The gallery walls are covered with vintage wallpaper and mass-produced skirting boards, while family portraits painted on latex hang upon them. Here, the concept of anemoia—nostalgia for a time and place one has never experienced—materialises through second-hand furniture and latex furnishings infused with childlike tenderness.
Latex: Desire, Colonialism, and Engineering
In KV Duong’s practice, latex is not merely a material but a political statement. Drawing on his background in structural engineering, the artist casts latex in liquid form, then hardens it by reinforcing with resin and fibreglass. This material references queer identity politics, desire, and the body on one hand; on the other, it evokes the brutal rubber plantations during Vietnam’s French colonial period (1887–1954). This “living” surface that replaces canvas carries both the violence of the past and the intimacy of skin.
Topography of Violence: Bomb Ponds
The five-panel monumental work that gives the exhibition its title depicts bomb ponds in rural Vietnam. These ponds are in fact craters left by approximately 3 million tons of explosives dropped by US forces during the Vietnam War (1964–1973).
Though nature has filled these deep wounds with water, turning them into points of tranquillity, Duong’s latex surfaces painted in fiery tones scream the destruction beneath this calm. The artist transforms the resilience story of a landscape shaped by violence into a contemplative monument.
Exhibition Details
Exhibition Title: Where Wound Becomes Water
Artist: KV Duong
Venue: Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London (Main Space)
Dates: 30 January – 14 March 2026
Private View: Thursday, 29 January, 18:00 – 20:00
Key Themes: Diaspora, Vietnam War legacy, Queer identity, Post-colonial narratives, Collaboration between engineering and art.
Statistical Note: The amount of explosives dropped on the region during the Vietnam War period referenced in the exhibition (1964–73) is approximately 3 million tons.
This exhibition promises to be a shattering stop for those seeking to understand that the concept of home is not only a place but sometimes a wound—and sometimes the water poured over that wound.
