Untitled (Everything is Going to be Alright)
by Linh Nguyen
Performance with wood, hemp rope, pillow, letter stickers on linen banner

Artist Statement
This performance speaks about the artist’s anxiety toward the future and all the unknowns that come with it. The wood represents all the obstacles that the future brings, which can fall onto the person underneath it at any time. The banner stating “Everything is Going to be Alright” is the two-bladed sword that consoles the anxious yet keeping her from preparing for when the unknown finally falls on her.

About the Artist
Linh Nguyen was born in 1995 in Sai Gon, Vietnam. She is receiving her bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Loyola University Chicago in 2018. One of her paintings, “The Skull, the Flower, and the Vase,” was included in the Evanston Art Center’s 2015 exhibition Works from Around Our State. In the same year, her work was also on display at the Annual Student Juried Show at the Ralph Arnold Gallery. Nguyen also participated in the four-person exhibition Crea×ture Com×forts at Ralph Arnold Gallery in 2018. Gradually, Nguyen’s work has shifted from still-life to mix-media, installation, and sculpture. Her piece in the 2018’s Annual Student Juried Show, “Untitled (Everything is Going to be Alright),” was a performance where the artist laid underneath a heavy piece of wood hung from the ceiling while her face was covered with a banner with the phrase “Everything is Going to be Alright.” This work speaks about fear of the future and the unknown. In 2017, Nguyen co-curated an independent student art show called You Are What Keeps You Up at Night with Sara Lochmueller, Kavya Tiwari, and Rachel Hyland, which focused on the anxiety of identity, grief, loss, and social interactions. Her latest work can be seen in For[e]word at LUMA from April 21^st to May 12^th, 2018.

For more information: Linh Nguyen