Hoi An from East of Eden: Vietnam
The Vietnam War was 20 years of bloodshed, a Cold War-era proxy war between North and South Vietnam, each supported by international allies, from 1955-1975. Photographer Pipo Nguyen-Duy grew up in Vietnam during the war before immigrating to the United States as a political refugee at age 13. His series East of Eden is not autobiographical, but draws upon "the idea of universal fear and anxiety... That is, at any given time, something is going to go wrong." This image mixes dignity and acceptance with the physical reality of war, mirroring the contrast provided by the lush garden and ruined buildings. This man, who has continued living despite personal loss and physical damage, finds peace in his pain, thereby spreading hope that there is in fact life and happiness even east of Eden.
It seems unnatural to look at this photograph through the lens of Venus in Furs, but throughout the novella there is a repeated motif of holy statues found tucked in lush gardens (von Sacher-Masoch, 2000). While von Sacher-Masoch always presents us with a Venus, here Nguyen-Duy presents us with a martyr figure, a man maimed in the Vietnam War and illuminated by an unnatural, celestial light. Venus is on a pedestal, Hoi An is also seated, raised. Both are central in the composition, surrounded by gardens that inherently conjure Eden, presented to be contemplated or perhaps even admired or worshipped. It is this sense of Eden, of unexpected paradise and peace, that links this piece to the others.
Does one feel physical pain in a missing or amputated limb long after the loss? Phantom pain is a form of pain felt in a part of the body that has been removed or from which the brain no longer receives signals. Approximately 60-80% of individuals with an amputation experience phantom sensations in their amputated limb, and the majority of the sensations are described as being painful. Some amputees experience continuous pain that varies in intensity or quality, but the frequency and intensity of attacks generally decrease over time.
Phantom pain felt is often described as shooting, crushing, burning, or cramping. Often the phantom limb feels like it still exists, with amputees sometimes trying to walk on their phantom limb. In 1992, research psychologist, Melzack, theorized that it is one's emotional and motivational systems that cause the phantom limb experience, with the brain containing a neuromatrix, or hologram image of the body. And it is our brain's connections to this neuromatrix, a wide network of interconnecting neural structures, that causes the phantom limb sensation.