Yeo Workshop is pleased to present ‘I Love a Broad Margin to My Life’, its first solo exhibition of the works by Vietnamese diaspora artist Moi Tran. The exhibition - titled after Maxine Hong Kingston’s 2011 novel - features mixed-media objects and documentation of live performance art, drawing on Moi Tran’s lived experience as a Vietnamese refugee, alongside her continued engagement with diaspora visibility and nurturing critical knowledge sharing. The mise en scene is framed by red velvet curtains and invites the anticipation of a shared theatrical contact zone between artist and viewer. Video and interactive objects suspend, as though characters and props, ready to perform. As a person of the Vietnamese diaspora and a Southeast Asian female artist, the work is representative of the artist’s diverse methodology to centre the embodied knowledge of marginalised spaces. Her exhibition highlights the power of co-learning through art and social practice and possibilities in a pluriversal future.
For the artist, recognising the agency of emotional reckoning in diaspora communities holds the potential to centre radical spaces of knowledge-making from the margin, especially in spaces dominated by the colonialist narrative, such as the United Kingdom where Tran lives and works. The exhibition includes objects made of flexible textile belts anchored by handmade cubes, precariously positioned by pins that speak to the imposing systems of assimilation encountered in the immigrant experience - these metaphoric circular belts reshape in countless configurations and are purposefully agile and portable; photographs and video recordings of live performances focus on the cathartic power of ‘sadness’ and new ways of critical thinking that can be derived from the joys of recognition in shared emotional vulnerability; an interactive puzzle - originally a solo piece invites viewers to partake in a collective performance and considers togetherness and reflection on the extractive practices of migrant labour.
Exhibition view: Moi Tran, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, Yeo Workshop, Singapore (15 May–27 June 2021). Courtesy Yeo Workshop. Photo: Jonathan Tan.
Exhibition view: The Other Day You Sat Too Far From Me, 2018. Live Performance video film. Duration 5 minutes 11 seconds.Moi Tran, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, Yeo Workshop, Singapore (15 May–27 June 2021). Courtesy Yeo Workshop. Photo: Jonathan Tan.
Exhibition view: Moi Tran, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, Yeo Workshop, Singapore (15 May–27 June 2021). Courtesy Yeo Workshop. Photo: Jonathan Tan.(left) Everyday Work Series - Hole Dig No. 1, 2017. Colour photograph documentation of solo action performance. 50 x 40 cm (each). (right) The Other Day You Sat Too Far From Me, 2018. Live Performance video film. Duration 5 minutes 11 seconds.
Exhibition view: Everyday Work Series - Hole Dig No. 1, 2017. Colour photograph documentation of solo action performance. 50 x 40 cm (each).Moi Tran, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, Yeo Workshop, Singapore (15 May–27 June 2021). Courtesy Yeo Workshop. Photo: Jonathan Tan.
Exhibition view: Moi Tran, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, Yeo Workshop, Singapore (15 May–27 June 2021). Courtesy Yeo Workshop. Photo: Jonathan Tan.
Exhibition view: Moi Tran, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, Yeo Workshop, Singapore (15 May–27 June 2021). Courtesy Yeo Workshop. Photo: Jonathan Tan.(left) Dying - A Journey 4. Poetry Tile. 2019. Two-piece black marble tiles, laser etched poetry text. 30.5 x 30.5 cm.(right) The Other Day You Sat Too Far From Me, 2018. Live Performance video film. Duration 5 minutes 11 seconds.
Exhibition view: Dying - A Journey 4. Poetry Tile. 2019. Two-piece black marble tiles, laser etched poetry text. 30.5 x 30.5 cm. Moi Tran, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, Yeo Workshop, Singapore (15 May–27 June 2021). Courtesy Yeo Workshop. Photo: Jonathan Tan.
Exhibition view: Moi Tran, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, Yeo Workshop, Singapore (15 May–27 June 2021). Courtesy Yeo Workshop. Photo: Jonathan Tan.
Exhibition view: Moi Tran, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, Yeo Workshop, Singapore (15 May–27 June 2021). Courtesy Yeo Workshop. Photo: Jonathan Tan.(left) Dying - 1 Journey 3. Poetry Tile, 2019. Black marble tiles, laser etched poetry text. 30.5 x 30.5 cm.(middle) Dying - A Journey 2. Poetry Tile, 2019. Black marble tiles, laser etched poetry text. 30.5 x 30.5 cm.(right) Dying - A Journey 3. Poetry Tile, 2019. Black marble tiles, laser etched poetry text. 30.5 x 30.5 cm.
Exhibition view: Moi Tran, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, Yeo Workshop, Singapore (15 May–27 June 2021). Courtesy Yeo Workshop. Photo: Jonathan Tan.(left) Dying - A Journey 4. Poetry Tile. 2019. Two-piece black marble tiles, laser etched poetry text. 30.5 x 30.5 cm.(right) Boundaries, 2018. Hand painted textile frames, steel pins. Dimensions variable.
Exhibition view: Boundaries, 2018. Hand painted textile frames, steel pins. Dimensions variable. Moi Tran, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, Yeo Workshop, Singapore (15 May–27 June 2021). Courtesy Yeo Workshop. Photo: Jonathan Tan.
Exhibition view: Boundaries, 2018. Hand painted textile frames, steel pins. Dimensions variable.Moi Tran, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, Yeo Workshop, Singapore (15 May–27 June 2021). Courtesy Yeo Workshop. Photo: Jonathan Tan.
Exhibition view: Moi Tran, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, Yeo Workshop, Singapore (15 May–27 June 2021). Courtesy Yeo Workshop. Photo: Jonathan Tan.
Exhibition view: The Importance of Futile Tasks - The Puzzle, 2018. 2000-piece puzzle in bespoke box. 35 x 23cm.Moi Tran, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, Yeo Workshop, Singapore (15 May–27 June 2021). Courtesy Yeo Workshop. Photo: Jonathan Tan.
Detail view: The Importance of Futile Tasks - The Puzzle, 2018. 2000-piece puzzle in bespoke box. 35 x 23cm. Moi Tran, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, Yeo Workshop, Singapore (15 May–27 June 2021). Courtesy Yeo Workshop. Photo: Jonathan Tan.
Exhibition view: Points, 2018. Hand painted textile belts, handmade concrete cubes, steel pins. Dimensions variable. Moi Tran, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, Yeo Workshop, Singapore (15 May–27 June 2021). Courtesy Yeo Workshop. Photo: Jonathan Tan.
Exhibition view: Points, 2018. Hand painted textile belts, handmade concrete cubes, steel pins. Dimensions variable.Moi Tran, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, Yeo Workshop, Singapore (15 May–27 June 2021). Courtesy Yeo Workshop. Photo: Jonathan Tan.
Detail view: Points, 2018. Hand painted textile belts, handmade concrete cubes, steel pins. Dimensions variable.Moi Tran, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, Yeo Workshop, Singapore (15 May–27 June 2021). Courtesy Yeo Workshop. Photo: Jonathan Tan.
Exhibition view: Moi Tran, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, Yeo Workshop, Singapore (15 May–27 June 2021). Courtesy Yeo Workshop. Photo: Jonathan Tan.(left) Possibilities of Things, 2018. Hand painted textile belts, handmade concrete cube, wooden textile cub, steel pins. 12 x 9.5 x 5.5 cm.(middle) Untitled Live Sculpture, 2018. Handmade concrete cubes stacked, installation foil, candle 54 x 30 x 18.5 cm.(right) End to End 2, 2017. Hand painted emulsion, hand-cut and hand-rolled textile spiral. 52 x 52 x 3cm.
Exhibition view: Possibilities of Things, 2018. Hand painted textile belts, handmade concrete cube, wooden textile cub, steel pins. 12 x 9.5 x 5.5 cm.Moi Tran, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, Yeo Workshop, Singapore (15 May–27 June 2021). Courtesy Yeo Workshop. Photo: Jonathan Tan.
Exhibition view: Untitled Live Sculpture, 2018. Handmade concrete cubes stacked, installation foil, candle 54 x 30 x 18.5 cm.Moi Tran, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, Yeo Workshop, Singapore (15 May–27 June 2021). Courtesy Yeo Workshop. Photo: Jonathan Tan.
About the Artist
Born in Vietnam with Chinese Heritage, Moi Tran is an artist based in the UK with training and background in Fine Art and Theatre. Her multidisciplinary practice as Artist, Researcher, Performance Maker and Designer explores the intersections between Contemporary Art and Live Performance.
Yeo Workshop is a contemporary art gallery based in Singapore’s Gillman Barracks, dedicated to showcasing Southeast Asian artists who push the boundaries of visual culture. From traditional painting and sculpture to cutting-edge digital media, the gallery fosters a bold and diverse program that engages with pressing socio-cultural issues, encouraging critical dialogue and fresh perspectives.
