"Ruột Kết" is Vietnamese for 'colon'. This piece is a compilation of colonoscope imagery from my colonoscopy in November, that was to investigate life-long gut health issues. The colon functions as an allegory of intergenerational trauma and the legacy of colonialism, as well as acts as a reliquary for those former lives. 

The colon contains the gut microbiome: consider it a museum exhibiting the result of consumption of crops of differing soil quality caused by various socio-political factors influenced by colonial systems. 

The microflora feed from fibre-rich pre-biotic sources, however can become parasitic and a paraphyletic reflection of chemical weaponry; acid rain cycles from factory farming; pyromanic slash-and-burn agriculture (in attempts of socio-economic upward mobility); all contributing factors to nutrient-leaching and degradation. Moreover, a mother's own gut microbiome is present in her child's colon, as her microflora is swallowed by an infant upon exiting the birthing canal—therefore, even with a change of circumstances, the imprint of ancestral deficiencies is not evaded. In a sense, the colon becomes votive to Confucian ancestral devotion as it retains this information.