What does origin mean when life uproots you and you have to start from scratch? How do you stay connected when you only return to your roots at the end of your journey? Lina’s lifelines stretch from Hanoi to Paris to Düsseldorf — and now to Berlin with this exhibition. Grandmother Lina traveled with her family to Vietnam, back to her birthplace, in search of the past. She was born in Uông Bí to a German father and a Vietnamese mother. She lived through the Japanese occupation and the liberation struggle of the Việt Minh before moving to Paris in 1950, where she began an apprenticeship as a tailor. Later, she married and settled in Germany. Today, Lina’s daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter — all of whom work in the arts — reflect on her eventful life with this project. Lina did not live to see the project’s completion. She passed away in 2024 at the age of 92. But her memory lives on in Fluchtpunkt Hanoi. Opening tonight (03.04.2025) at the Roam project space, the moving installation combines simultaneous video projections in a deeply personal homage to a woman who found her way. The result is a visually striking exploration that interweaves questions of origin and belonging, history and the present, as inextricably as Lina’s own life path.
Text: Laura Storfner / Credit: Thomas Gaschler, Marina Ludemann, Nina DeLudemann, Ottjörg A.C.
roam projects e. V., Lindenstr.91, 10969 Berlin–Kreuzberg; map
Fluchtpunkt Hanoi 1906–2025, opening 03.04. 19–22h, until 01.05.2025
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