When we look
at the road
that my people
have been through,
during the war
that was upon us,
during now the peace
that we are surviving,
that we are trying
to find within ourselves,
within our land,
on our land,
there is
no doubt
that our deeds,
our thoughts of today
will take good care
of tomorrow.
– Paul Malimba, Excerpt from Today will take care of tomorrow
Today will take care of tomorrow, the title of Phinthong’s video work on display and the exhibition, comes from the title of Paul Malimba’s poem on Laos’ tragic history as well as its power to heal. The forty-minute video is an infrared view of the forest and an old Buddhist temple completely ruined by the bombing in Laos. In the first person perspective slowly strolling through, the gaze rests on the traces of violence, shards of ammunition embedded in the trees. Ironically, the forest can protect itself from illegal loggers due to the metal debris damaging their machinery. The capacity of nature to absorb violence and heal is further highlighted in the connection Phinthong makes to the Korean DMZ in The Organs of Destiny (Assembly).