“The next morning, he went with it to the man, and said to him, ‘No one shall be my wife except for the one whose foot fits this golden shoe.’

The two sisters were happy to hear this, for they had pretty feet. With her mother standing by, the older one took the shoe into her bedroom to try it on. She could not get her big toe into it, for the shoe was too small for her. Then her mother gave her a knife and said, ‘Cut off your toe. When you are queen you will no longer have to go on foot.’

The girl cut off her toe, forced her foot into the shoe, swallowed the pain, and went out to the prince. He took her on his horse as his bride and rode away with her. However, they had to ride past the grave, and there, on the hazel tree, sat the two pigeons, crying out:

Rook di goo, rook di goo!
There's blood in the shoe.
The shoe is too tight,
This bride is not right!

Then he looked at her foot and saw how the blood was running from it. He turned his horse around and took the false bride home again, saying that she was not the right one, and that the other sister should try on the shoe. She went into her bedroom, and got her toes into the shoe all right, but her heel was too large.

Then her mother gave her a knife, and said, ‘Cut a piece off your heel. When you are queen you will no longer have to go on foot.’

The girl cut a piece off her heel, forced her foot into the shoe, swallowed the pain, and went out to the prince. He took her on his horse as his bride and rode away with her. When they passed the hazel tree, the two pigeons were sitting in it, and they cried out:

Rook di goo, rook di goo!
There's blood in the shoe.
The shoe is too tight,
This bride is not right!

He looked down at her foot and saw how the blood was running out of her shoe, and how it had stained her white stocking all red. Then he turned his horse around and took the false bride home again.

‘This is not the right one, either,’ he said. ‘Don't you have another daughter?’”

(The Brothers Grimm, Aschenputtel [Cinderella], 1812)

Alongside Carol Rama, Nottingham Contemporary presents the first major UK exhibition by Danh Võ.

Danh Võ’s work explores the intersections of personal experience and major historical events, including the impact and mutations of Catholicism as it spread through colonisation. His artworks reflect on the paradoxes inherent to the construction of identity. His use of objects evokes the historical circumstances which shape contemporary life. “I don’t believe that things come from within you. To me things come out of the continuous dialogue you have with your surroundings,” he has said.

Danh Võ was born on the island of Phu Quoc, South Vietnam, in 1975 and eventually granted political asylum in Denmark, where he was raised. Võ, now a Mexican resident, has had solo exhibitions at museums and institutions such as the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, The Art Institute of Chicago, Kunsthalle Basel, Kunsthalle Friedericianum in Kassel and the Steledijk Museum Amsterdam. In 2012 he won the Hugo Boss Prize.

Danh Võ’s exhibition at Nottingham contemporary will present a selection of his early works, three major installations and new works.

Massive Black Hole in the Dark Heart of our Milky Way, 2012, includes the Grimm Brothers’ original version of Cinderella, handwritten by Vo’s father Phung Võ. Other elements are empty Johnnie Walker and Coca Cola bottles and boxes, 27 US flags with thirteen stars made with gold on used cardboard and 99 shopping bags from Liberty lsland, New York.

Oma Totem, 2009, is a stack of the first items Võ’s grandmother received from social and religious agencies when she arrived in Germany, having left in a separate boat. It consists of a washing machine, a fridge, a TV set, a crucifix.

Galoppa, 2009, is the riding saddle of the last missionary to use horses to minister to the indigenous people of the Vietnamese Central Highlands.

02.02.1861, 2009, is the last letter French missionary Jean-Théophane Vénard wrote to his father before his execution in Indochina hand copied by Võ’s father.

Danh Võ at Nottingham Contemporary is supported by Hugo Boss.