A child is born literally with a hole in her head. The bones close and bind slowly underneath the fragile layer of skin. The child also has a symbolic hole and with each experience this, too, is filled in.

Dead Dove is Huong's personal portrait. Her father was a commander in the Vietnamese army. They were always on the move-constantly changing from one compound to another, never settled down. These compounds were frequent targets for bombs and rockets, grenades, and snipers' bullets.

Huong spent much of her time alone, terrified of the shadows of ghosts, "listening to the dead calling". "My greatest enemy was my loneliness. We are always alone in our pain." She feared sleeping and dreaded waking. She lived each day as if her skin were peeled away -in raw terror.

"I felt completely alone in my fear" War was bullying me. I heard its voice: 'I will kill you all, your father, your mother, then you. This nightmare became the reality of my life. I felt indescribably alone."

Text By, Sandi Wicina, Curator of Arts
©2004. Art, War, and Peace Museum.