Ngon Qúa - Recipes of Life

Ngon Quá is a multi-channel moving image installation and a co-created project with cooking sessions where community participants reflect on their Vietnamese heritage through ‘Recipes of Life’ in Deptford.

Will Pham is a British-Vietnamese artist working in video, performance, painting and socially engaged practice. His work explores intergenerational care, cultural inheritance, and refugee narratives within the UK. Will graduated from the Postgraduate Fine Art programme at the Royal Academy Schools in 2018 and BA Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art & Design in 2013.

Will is interested in the ways Recipes of Life (original concept by Natale Rudland Wood), can be continuously adapted and used in multiple scenarios to bring communities together. He has organised special lunches at Evelyn Community Centre as part of the Elderly Luncheon Club, a series of Recipes of Life workshops for 2nd generation British Vietnamese Chinese people, an outing trip to Margate Beach to listen to each others stories, Group cooking workshops, a celebratory performance with the VLC Band & guest singers, a Cooking Calendar with historical footnotes, a collection of Youtube cooking videos which all lead to and sit alongside his exhibition at Enclave. Throughout this project, Will’s approach has been exploring the boundaries between community engagement and artistic practice and centring the stories of individual and community life.

With generous support by Arts Council England Project Grant from National Lottery funding

With thanks to Deptford X Team, Lewisham Council, Vietnamese Family Partnership, Recipes of Life participants, Elderly Luncheon Club members, Youtube contributors, Quynh Nguyen, Angela Byrne, Lili Ly, Phuong Tang, Kvet Nguyen, Simon Lam, Koa Pham, Mai-Thi Nguyen, Loi Xuan Ly, Kelly Loi, Nam Tran, The VLC Band, Sophia Luu, Nancy Vu, Emma Wang Thomas, Tram Nguyen, Quyen Nguyen, Hau-Yu Tam, Edison Huynh, Tuyet Van Huynh, Summer Doan.

Find more info at Deptford X