
Biting the Hand that Feeds You
- Publisher
- Dashwood Books
- Year
- 2025
- Specifications
- Zine
20 pages
5.25 x 7 in
First edition
Distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Perimeter
A zine conceived as a letter to the artist's mother, an attempt to begin sharing the things the two have kept from each other out of fear of hurting one another. Growing up, her parents insisted that the family share every meal, stressing the importance of family time and of a space to talk about their lives, yet an unspoken rule forbade unpleasant topics at the dinner table, so her memories of those family meals are silent. Anh Nguyen shares moments of joy and love with her mother and admits to moments of homesickness and defeat. The images range from a strip of passport-style portraits of the artist to a red-lipped mouth holding a cracked quail egg, a handwritten note in Vietnamese on an old card and a gloved hand holding a small red ball.