Talk with Thao Nguyen Phan

December 2021

‘Stars afar
Closer: Fireflies’

Continuing the Nguyen Art Foundation’s series of public and educational programs in association with its inaugural exhibition ‘People, Victory and Life after the War’, this online talk by the critically-acclaimed visual artist Thảo Nguyên Phan unpacks both the arts of the image and the written words in her practice. Phan is known for her poetic, multi-layered artworks which explore the historical and ecological issues facing Vietnam, while speaking to universal ideas surrounding ideas of tradition, ideology, ritual and environmental change. Through storytelling, mixing official and unofficial histories, her work challenges what she describes as ‘political amnesia’.

In this talk, Phan brings together a selection of her artworks, including videos, paintings and sculptures. Phan also shares her personal reflection on the development of the contemporary art scene in Ho Chi Minh City, her experience educated in the Ho Chi Minh Fine Arts University, learning from the local alternative art spaces, and her experience exhibiting abroad.

For more information about our exhibition ‘People, Victory and Life after the War’, please visit: https://bit.ly/3ExtJZg