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# Endangered Monkeys and the Legacy of the Vietnam War at Ground Floor Gallery
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/endangered-monkeys-and-the-legacy-of-the-vietnam-war-at-ground-floor-gallery/
- Published: 2017-03-23T21:20:03.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:27:40.000Z
- Description: The artist's exhibition, on view through March 26, centers on an endangered species of monkeys in Vietnam and a US military document from 1969.
- Author: Jillian Steinhauer
- Tags: Art, Events, Tammy Nguyen, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:23 (2016, 2017, part 2)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/03/nguyen-primate-1.jpg)

Tammy Nguyen, “Shoot” (2015), watercolor, acrylic, and oil on canvas, 48 x 36 in (all photos by the author for Hyperallergic)

In 2010, artist [Tammy Nguyen](http://www.tammy-nguyen.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) stopped into a used bookstore in Ho Chi Minh City. Amid the heat and heaps of old texts and materials, she stumbled upon a US military document from 1969 that proposed the modernization and reconstruction of the city of Danang. The document referred to Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) as a “primate city,” which Nguyen [has explained](http://staringatthewall.com/2014/09/19/tammy-nguyen-studio-visit-interview/?ref=hyperallergic.com) means “a city isolated by rural and inadequate areas that is large and growing so quickly that it absorbs the country’s resources projecting an unstable national future.”

A few years later, Nguyen returned to Danang, where she spent time observing a species of monkeys that lives on Son Tra Mountain, which housed a US military base during the Vietnam War. The red-shanked douc langurs survived the US invasion, only to now [become endangered](http://bombmagazine.org/article/1655215/the-red-shanked-douc-langur?ref=hyperallergic.com) thanks to the construction of a resort. These monkeys, the mountain, and the concept of a primate city are the driving forces of Nguyen’s [current solo show at Ground Floor Gallery](http://groundfloorbk.com/primate-city-a-solo-exhibition-by-tammy-nguyen/?ref=hyperallergic.com), curated by Aljira Executive Director Dexter Wimberly. In paintings, prints, and artist’s books — including [one shaped like a red-shanked douc langur](http://www.tammy-nguyen.com/artist-books/primate-city-/dana-ng-in-danang-city/1?ref=hyperallergic.com) — Nguyen weaves the fictional tale of a girl named Dana Ng who sucks out the monkeys’ eyeballs with a straw. The violence of the imagery is offset by its sensitivity, as Nguyen washes her canvases in rich colors and loose, dreamlike flora. Her work is fantastical but grounded in facts — and a reminder that the stories places contain are infinitely more complicated than we humans make them out to be.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/03/nguyen-primate-2.jpg)

Tammy Nguyen, “What happens after blindness?” (2017), woodblock and mixed media on paper, 18.5 x 14.5 in

**When:** Artist talk on Saturday, March 25, 3pm; public hours close March 26, but show remains open by appointment through March 3o  
**Where:** Ground Floor Gallery (343 5th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn)

*More info* [*here*](http://groundfloorbk.com/primate-city-a-solo-exhibition-by-tammy-nguyen/?ref=hyperallergic.com)*.*

**Correction:** *This piece originally misstated that the document found by Nguyen referred to Danang, not Saigon, as a “primate city.” We regret the error, and it has been fixed.*