A graduate of the Beaux-Arts de Paris and the Glasgow School of Art, Thu Van Tran was born in 1979 in Ho Chi Minh City and fled with her family to France in 1981. Marked by this exile, the artist has created a body of work that includes photographs, drawings, films, sculptures and installations that she brings together in situ to form a grand narrative that raises questions about our ability to remember the history, rituals and legacies of countries and nations. She is interested in the way yesterday looms over today, how historical consciousness and collective consciousness interact with each other. Addressing Vietnam's postcolonial relations with France and the United States, her practice consistently draws on literature, history and nature, focusing on how cultural concepts of contamination, identity and language are explored in these fields.
In 2018, she was nominated for the prestigious Marcel Duchamp Prize in France.
In conversation with Alain Berland.
Penser le Présent is produced with the support of Société Générale.
Amphi des Loges, 14 rue Bonaparte, Paris 6e - Free admission subject to availability
Photo credit: © Leslie Martinelli
