Linh Dang

An accidental fan of the comedy series Đại Gia Chân Đất, which she used to binge-watch with her dad and brother during each Vietnamese Tết, Linh is intrigued by rural-urban transitions in contemporary Vietnam. She is excited to observe how rural areas are spatially, economically, socially, and culturally transformed by ambitious development projects, leading the “rural” and the “urban” to seep into one another. Guiding her curiosity is the question of value and valuation, which she sees as tying together, in fascinating “webs of significance,” joss paper burning, instant personal loans, land speculation, labor migration—and, horse racing! Other than that, she lives her second life, graced by gufeng melodies, in a dreamscape of mountains, bamboo, lanterns, moon-gazing pavilions, and the pipa.