Vân-Nhi Nguyễn
521 Kim Ma, Giang Vo ward, Hanoi, Vietnam
Vân-Nhi Nguyễn lives and works in Hà Nội, Việt Nam. Nguyễn’s practice thoughtfully examines contemporary landscapes and how it is anchored in memories. Through staged, idealistic domestic pictures, and collages made from both stock images and her own photographs, Nguyễn uses photography to lay bare these connections - she looks into ways that she can create a world parallel to the physical structures of the current non-westernized world, and how it can become emblematic of unfulfilled aspirations and unrealized potentials due to unresolved historiography. Nguyễn draws from a range of disciplines, borrowing methodologies from documentary, performances, and traditional fine arts. Within each work, Nguyen creates highly considered, layered, sculptural photography through the process of image making, collecting, which are offset by conditions for speculations, and improvisation.
Nguyễn has been presented at Objectif Centre for Photography & Film, Hong Kong International Photography Festival, Peckham Copeland, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Matca Space for Photography, amongst others. She has also received funding from the likes of Aperture Foundation, Pro Helvetia foundation, V&A Museum, PhMuseum, to name a few. Her work has been published in various publications such as Aperture magazine, It’s Nice That, British Journal of Photography, Le Monde Magazine, etc. Her work is in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art.
Portfolio available upon request.
SELECT EXHIBITIONS:
2026 East and Southeast Asian Panorama, Biblioteca Braidense, PhotoVogue Festival, Milan, Italy
Thắm Lại, curated by Anh Dao Ha, Galerie Quynh, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
(Duo) TBA, Vân-Nhi Nguyễn & Nguyễn Duy Anh, Vietnam Art Collection (VAC), Hanoi, VIetnam
2025 Architecture of Intimacy, curated by Anh Dao Ha, NARS Foundation, New York City, US
Verzasca Foto, Verzasca, Switzerland
(Curatorial Work) A Remedy for the Restlessness of Body and Mind, Objects Hanoi, Vietnam
2024 Visualising Climate Crisis, Angkor Photo Festival & Workshop, Siem Reap, Cambodia
All about Love, á Space for Experimental Art, Hanoi, Vietnam
And One Eternailty Later, curated by Ba-bau AiR, daadgalerie, Berlin, Germany
2023 Imaging Rhizome, curated by 3năm, RABA, Tokyo, Japan
‘Agents of Change’ presented by the V&A Parasol Foundation, Peckham 24, London, UK
Remission, Manzi Hanoi, Vietnam
(Solo) “As You Grow Older”, presented by Aperture Foundation, Baxter St at the CCNY, New York, US
PLAT(T)FORM, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland
Women in Film & Photography, curated by Emmeline Yong, Objectif Centre for Photography & Film,
Singapore
(Solo) “Trăm Năm Hạnh Phúc/ Hundreds Years of Happiness”, Hong Kong International Photography Festival
Remission, curated by Jamie Maxtone- Graham, The Outpost Art Organization, Hanoi, Vietnam
2022 Art For You 15, Manzi Art Space, Ha Noi, Viet Nam
2021 Things That Counts, Matca Space for Photography, Ha Noi, Viet Nam
SELECT AWARDS, GRANTS AND RESIDENCIES:
2026 Vietnam Art Collection (VAC) Fall residency, Hanoi, Vietnam
2025 Finalist, Verzasca Foto Festival, Switzerland
Finalist, Encontros de Imagem, Braga, Portugal
2024 Finest Artist, Hanoi Grapevine’s Finest 2023
Arttaca Grant Finalists
2023 Winner, The V&A Parasol Foundation Prize for Women in Photography, V&A Museum, London, UK
Winner, Aperture Portfolio Prize
Mobility Grant, Pro Helvetia, Switzerland
Angkor Photo residency - with Antoine d’Agata, Katrin Koenning & Veejay Villafranca, Siem Reap, Cambodia
NOOR Images: Visualizing Climate Crisis with Kadir van Lohuizen residency, Hanoi, Vietnam
2022 New Generation prize, Women Photographers Grant, PhMuseum
On Seeing residency – with Jamie Maxtone - Graham, Matca, Viet Nam
SELECT PANELS/ TALKS:
2026 Desire, Agency, and the Female Gaze Reclaimed, Biblioteca Braidense, PhotoVogue Festival, Milan, Italy
2023 Women in Film & Photography, Objectif Centre for Photography & Film, Singapore
Photo Hanoi, « Parcours de Femmes Photographes » avec Maika Elan, Nguyễn Vân Nhi, Nhu Xuan Hua & Eléonore Tran
Photo London, Aperture presents: Agents of Change, moderated by Fiona Rogers
Peckham 24, Gesture, Pose, Performance: the Body and the Art of Storytelling - with Priyadarshi Ravichandran, Vân Nhi Nguyễn, Fion Hung Ching-Yan and Dr. Catherine Troiano
Aperture Conversations, Vân-Nhi Nguyễn and Varun Nayar on As You Grow Older
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS:
The Museum of Modern Art, New York CIty, US
PROFESSIONAL WORK:
Present Senior Technical Officer, RMIT University, Hanoi Campus
EDUCATION
BA (Hons), Graphic Design at Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK
SELECT PRESS, PUBLICATION AND COMMISSIONS:
2025 Heat, Far - Near Vol. 6
2025 Vân-Nhi Nguyễn - No Such Thing, Tan Pham, ELLE Vietnam summer issue
2024 Vân-Nhi Nguyễn Crafts a New Portrait of Vietnam, Rebecca Lynn Loftin, to Be Magazine issue 7
2024 Finest Artist 2024: Vân-Nhi Nguyễn, Hanoi Grapevine
2024 Vân-Nhi Nguyễn - As You Grow Older , Phroom
2023 “Home” by Vân-Nhi Nguyễn, A Magazine Curated by - Peter Do issue no. 26
2023 Histories of Space and Self, Zarah Amiruddin, Arttaca
2023 Vân-Nhi Nguyen's Bold Perspective on the Lives of Young People in Vietnam, Thessaly La Force, Aperture 251: Asian in America
2023 Vân-Nhi Nguyễn Explores the Gap of Vietnam Past and Present - PhMuseum Lucia De Stefani, PhMuseum
2023 In her ongoing series, photographer Vân-Nhi Nguyễn subverts colonial perceptions of Vietnam, Daniel Milroy Maher, It’s Nice That
2022 As You Grow Older, Transference Magazine
2021 Ones To Watch: Nguyen Van Nhi - Matca , Hà Đào, Matca