
Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba is a part Japanese and Vietnamese artist who creates films which explore Vietnamese history and national identity, and have referenced issues such as the displacement of Vietnamese "boat people" after the Vietnam War. But Hatsushiba's principle theme revolves around Alienation.
"For the Courageous, the Curious, and the Cowards" was a 13 minute video by Hatsushiba exposing the difficulty and hard labor that the job of dragging the cyclos through the ocean floor had involved. This video acts in the same way as a documentary, it consisted of real Vietnamese fishermen, no actors were employed. The viewer is forced to acknowledge the fact that all physical struggles evident in this video are real, this also brings out the absurdity of such tangible barriers the men may face. According to Wikipedia, Cyclos are used for local transport, mostly used in the South, Southeast and East Asia, where the passengers are pulled by a person on foot. The fisherman drag the cyclos completely underwater, across the sea floor towards about thirty mosquito nets, spread across the sea bed by the artist himself. The fisherman remain calm and determined until needing to breathe, they then rush up to the surface and gasp for air.
Concepts and ideologies from the Renaissance, Modernism are evident in the video. Interest in the future (scientific or the technological) as to capture the footage underwater would require a specific video camera. By capturing the real scene and atmosphere of dragging the cyclos, the audience better absorbs the real issues. Hatsushiba also shows interest in he everyday and mundane human lifestyle of the Vietnamese. He really focuses on their hardships and struggles.
As said by Hewit, (2008), “the arduous job of dragging the cyclos through the ocean speaks to the difficult burden of the past in the face of modernization.” From Hatsushiba's work we are exposed to the lifestyle of some Vietnamese people who struggle with change, modernization an industrialization. The people who do not accept the westernized ways and methods.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jun_Nguyen-Hatsushiba
http://www.nyartbeat.com/nyablog/2008/07/for-the-courageous-the-curious-and-the-cowards/