As an Apsara

Not only found on ancient temples, apsaras are also proudly decorated across family homes. Taking this beloved form, Thach pays homage to the rich heritage their family carries with them. Preserving connection to their family’s motherland comes from the fear of losing cultural threads through assimilation, the loss of language, and the passing of relatives. Projection mapped video oscillates between an apsara dance and an artificial intelligence reconstruction of the same dancer, spliced between tender moments of Thach’s grandparents. This piece configures their mélanged cultural identity, combining old and new technologies that seek to honor the past and meditate the fate of tradition in the diaspora.

This piece has been featured in Tacoma’s Museum of Glass, the Minnesota Museum of American Art, and Chicago’s Latent Space Gallery.