richard fung, the way to my father’s village, 1988
Richard Fung (Port of Spain, 1954) is an artist and writer born in Trinidad and based in Toronto. His work comprises challenging videos on subjects ranging from the role of the Asian male in gay pornography to colonialism, immigration, racism, homophobia, AIDS, justice in Israel/Palestine, and his own family history. His single-channel and installation works, which include Orientations: Lesbian and Gay Asians (1984) and its redux Re:Orientations (2016), My Mother’s Place (1990), Sea in the Blood (2000), Jehad in Motion (2007), Dal Puri Diaspora (2012) and Nang by Nang (2018), have been widely screened and collected internationally, and have been broadcast in Canada, the United States and Trinidad and Tobago.
Richard is Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Art at OCAD University.
About the work:
In the autumn of 1986, shortly after his dad’s death, Richard Fung traveled to his father’s village in southern Guangdong. His father, Eugene Fong (whose name was changed by an immigration official to Fung), emigrated to Trinidad in the early 20th century. Separated from his father’s village by two generations, Richard decides to retrace his father’s journey in an attempt to understand him more intimately. A screen text provides an inventory of the scant details Richard remembers of his dad: “He gave money to beggars. He fought against having a union in his shop. He never taught us his language. He always wore Bermuda shorts.”
