18/07/2026
[Nghệ nhà trồng #2 | Doley: Refusing the Personal]
📝 An interview on being read as art, not autobiography.
(See notes (*) and (**) in the comments)
When I walked into Doley's studio, I was confused: there was no spare space on any surface above the ground for me to leave my tote bag. The top of the cabinet, the kitchen counter, and even the rackets were all occupied. At the only table in the room, Doley was sitting with an art project in progress on a tabletop that looked like a construction site.
I asked her where to put my stuff. She said, on the floor.
It's funny because although the place is nothing like what people would call "well-organized," it is ordered by intent. Its owner knows exactly where each item was put. Whenever I reached for a single object, Doley reminded me to put it back exactly the way it was (no matter how crooked the frame looked). The studio, hence, is not a mere physical room; it has become something close to an ecosystem, even when there is only one living creature inhabiting it.
It is impossible to make a concrete evaluation of this studio if one wants to fully comprehend it.
The interview starts with a few questions to explore Doley’s personal ideas as an artist and a designer. However, she refuses to answer most of them. We then discuss back and forth about how to ask questions in an interview, even as our own interview is about to stall.
The conversation only begins to flow when I decide to ask about the most particular thing, which also happens to be what is presenting itself right in front of us: Doley’s artwork “To roll outside of the mat” (Canvas fabric, rubber mat, 60x60x1 cm).
── .✦
MINH GIANG: Your work for the Contemporary Photography course was exhibited in Spring Showcase 2026. I was there, I sat with you and then we talked. You told me that you wanted to do something different from the way news outlets visualize people in sports…
DOLEY: [Not all visual mediums, only] Photographs.
MINH GIANG: How would you describe those photos?
DOLEY: “Assertive image” (*). I cite the thinker Stauff, who uses this term to refer to the phenomenon I described. There's a conceptual foundation behind all of my artwork so far, and with this one I borrow his concept to explain it.
MINH GIANG: How would you explain it?
DOLEY: It’s basically something that tries to catch your emotions by having triggering images. In this case [sports], you always see someone clearly winning over another person. For example, in boxing, an image showing someone being punched in the face by another gives the sense of who’s winning.
This is common in photographing sport events. There is always a particular moment shown in recap photos - a moment that no matter how ambiguous the situation (the match) is between 2 athletes, always shows someone winning.
It’s the most convenient image to talk about the match.
MINH GIANG: As stated in your artwork statement, you aim to “re-imagine an alternative language to sport photography”. To achieve this, you have to understand the sport and know the athletes.
How did you work with these Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) practitioners to produce this artwork? Were the individuals featured familiar to you?
DOLEY: (smile) I train in that gym.
All of them are people who I am close with, at least compared to my network circle because I spend most of my nights in that gym. And BJJ is a very close contact sport so I think we know each other physically and mentally.
As stated in the proposal to the instructor of that class, I work as a media staff at that training center. I carry a digital camera and it’s not small [so it obviously caught attention]. I already sent them [people at the BJJ gym] those photos. All of these photos are stored in a public Drive in our group chat for the center's use anytime. I already told people at the center that those photos will be posted. Some have already been posted on the media outlets of the gym.
The head coach of the gym even saw my showcase, even though not in person. That night we had a training session too. I was supposed to be there for the training but I had to stay [at the showcase] to clean up.
MINH GIANG: It’s funny because you put a lot of yourself in this work, but you do not want to share anything personal or state why something is personal to you in this interview.
DOLEY: To me, my work has a positionality (**) in it. What I mean when I don’t want to answer any personal questions is that I do not want to put any particular persona into all of my work.
Take this work as an example, I can mention a part of my life of both being an art student and a BJJ athlete. But I do not want to make it my life motto. It’s very much based on the work.
MINH GIANG: So everything shown in your work, even if personal, must be understood within context. The work cannot be seen as merely a part of you, and it can't be used to project onto you as a whole.
DOLEY: Yes. That is why I don’t generalize any thinker or artist’s work into their personal life. I only talk about their discourse or their work. That’s what I mean by differentiating between “hate” and “critical”. I am criticized a lot of times and I do the same with my friends. But at the end of the day, we are still friends.
Just like when I criticize your questions, it doesn’t mean I hate you. I just think that there needs to be a discussion about them.
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