Diary of an NUS Museum Intern: Phan Dam Quan
Note: Diary of an NUS Museum Intern is a series of blog posts written by our interns about their experiences during the course of their internships. Working alongside their mentors, our interns have waded through tons of historical research, assisted in curatorial work, pitched in during exhibition installations and organised outreach events! If you would like to become our next intern, visit our internship page for more information!
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Phan Dam Quan is a year 4 NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences student, majoring in Geography. During his time here as our Collections Management Intern, Phan has assisted the collections team with the exhibition Wartime Artists of Vietnam: Drawings and Posters from the Ambassador Dato’ N. Parameswaran Collection.
The internship was a wonderful experience that I could do something that connects me back to my homeland. Being a foreigner in Singapore, I was eager to join NUS Museum to assist the work on the Wartime Artists of Vietnam. The research on famous artists and their careers had broaden my scope of knowledge on not just arts but also the rich history and culture of Vietnam.
By examining various paintings, sketches and woodcarves scattering in multiple themes, I was able to consolidate my previous knowledge on the Vietnam War from different perspectives. As each painting was drawn by different artists from different backgrounds and social contexts, each set of artworks represents a unique view of the time. While some depicts the view of the soldiers that signified the glorious battles, other sketches were drawn from a civilian’s perspective who witnessed the dire and destruction of warfare.
As I progressed through my work, I felt a stronger sense of attachment to my hometown of Hanoi. Conducting research and comprising information for the exhibition had exposed me to the far past of a place I have been through. Looking at the artworks that depict the familiar streets and buildings were once covered with guns and artilleries informed me of the changes of my hometown through years. There are no signs of war left, the remnants of the past are only limited to the antique buildings in the old districts, while other places are rapidly modernised and crowded with buildings. The more I examined the paintings, the more I understood about the rapid changes of my hometown that had strengthened my attachment to Hanoi through time and space. It was such a great pleasure that even though I were in Singapore, I could still connect with and gain more understanding of a city across thousands of miles!
Five weeks of internship might be short, but it was still enough time for me to make new friends. We shared our stories, funny jokes that were relaxing and enjoyable, which had enlivened our working days with a positive attitude. Those were the experiences I will never forget!
During the internship, I was also fortunate to have the chance to visit various sites in Singapore, which was a part of the discourse on museum definition. With each site, I explored different methods of representation of our society, history, cultures. While some places take the traditional approach to showcase historical artefacts, others are symbolised by its representation of diasporas’ communities.
Museums in the upcoming future will continue to change. I believe it is not a question of choosing to incorporate innovative ideas or not, but rather the degree of such incorporation of new ideas, innovative design layouts and digital components. Should museums chiefly focus on its traditional purpose of education and cultural preservation, or should they embark on a more active role to further enhance our perception of arts and culture? I will leave it for you to decide.
The internship was a wonderful experience that I could do something that connects me back to my homeland. Being a foreigner in Singapore, I was eager to join NUS Museum to assist the work on the Wartime Artists of Vietnam. The research on famous artists and their careers had broaden my scope of knowledge on not just arts but also the rich history and culture of Vietnam.
By examining various paintings, sketches and woodcarves scattering in multiple themes, I was able to consolidate my previous knowledge on the Vietnam War from different perspectives. As each painting was drawn by different artists from different backgrounds and social contexts, each set of artworks represents a unique view of the time. While some depicts the view of the soldiers that signified the glorious battles, other sketches were drawn from a civilian’s perspective who witnessed the dire and destruction of warfare.
As I progressed through my work, I felt a stronger sense of attachment to my hometown of Hanoi. Conducting research and comprising information for the exhibition had exposed me to the far past of a place I have been through. Looking at the artworks that depict the familiar streets and buildings were once covered with guns and artilleries informed me of the changes of my hometown through years. There are no signs of war left, the remnants of the past are only limited to the antique buildings in the old districts, while other places are rapidly modernised and crowded with buildings. The more I examined the paintings, the more I understood about the rapid changes of my hometown that had strengthened my attachment to Hanoi through time and space. It was such a great pleasure that even though I were in Singapore, I could still connect with and gain more understanding of a city across thousands of miles!
Five weeks of internship might be short, but it was still enough time for me to make new friends. We shared our stories, funny jokes that were relaxing and enjoyable, which had enlivened our working days with a positive attitude. Those were the experiences I will never forget!
During the internship, I was also fortunate to have the chance to visit various sites in Singapore, which was a part of the discourse on museum definition. With each site, I explored different methods of representation of our society, history, cultures. While some places take the traditional approach to showcase historical artefacts, others are symbolised by its representation of diasporas’ communities.
Museums in the upcoming future will continue to change. I believe it is not a question of choosing to incorporate innovative ideas or not, but rather the degree of such incorporation of new ideas, innovative design layouts and digital components. Should museums chiefly focus on its traditional purpose of education and cultural preservation, or should they embark on a more active role to further enhance our perception of arts and culture? I will leave it for you to decide.
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