Vân-Nhi Nguyễn, A talented Photographer
VÂN-NHI NGUYỄN - Biography
Vân-Nhi Nguyễn (born in 1999 in Hanoi, Vietnam) (Hanoi Grapevine's Finest, 2024) is a young Vietnamese photographer who is well-known in portraiture and staged documentary work exploring youth, nostalgia, memory, gender and Vietnamese heritage/identity. By the series “As You Grow Older”, for which she was awarded the 2023 Aperture Portfolio Prize, she still keeps expanding her series. ( Force, 2023)
Early Life and Education
Vân-Nhi Nguyễn was born in 1999, based in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. After finishing her high school, she started studying abroad and earning a “Bachelor of Fine Art in Photography (BFA)” degree from OCAD University in Toronto, Canada, in 2018-2021, in 2021-2023, she moved to Liverpool, UK to learn Graphic Design (Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Graphic Design) at Liverpool John Moores University. After graduated, she returned to Hanoi, Vietnam, continuing her career and life. (The Dossier, 2024)
Career
In the early 2020s, Vân-Nhi Nguyễn started creating and developing her artistic viual practice, based on her photography background, working mostly in photography and mixed-media image-making. Her works were fused from various elements, including staged portraiture, re-photography, collage and local material (people, scenery, interior) imagery. By photographing her acquantances (peers, relative often) in pre-setted up domestic materials, environments. (Maher, 2023)
In 2022, the series “As You Grow Older” was created, she photographed, and examined personal and collective memory through intimate images of youth in Vietnam in the exact period. The series brought her international recognition and was exhibited in several countries.
Her practice has been exposed in exhibitions and festivals in Asia, Europe, and North America. Notable venues for exhibitions include the Baxter St at the Camera Club of New York, the Hong Kong International Photo Festival, and FotoMuseum Winterthur in Switzerland. (Hanoi Grapevine's Finest, 2024)
Works
2023 – Until now
“As You Grow Older”: A long-term series photographing young Vietnamese people in vintage domestic areas in Vietnam. The theme was focusing on exploring and expressing indentify, gender, memory and interior last.
2023
'One Hundred Years of Happiness': Vân-Nhi Nguyễn participated as a solo artist exhibiting in the Satellite Exhibition 2023 at Hong Kong International Photo Festival, where she exhibited a piece of her series “As You Grow Older.” (HKIPF, 2023)
2025 – Ongoing
“Untitled”: Through her social experiences, and survey performances of a woman against an “Asian-stereotypical” which is inherently Confucianist. She wants to express the position of women from domesticity to become an actor of social reproduction in the context of the Vietnamese economy and politics. (Nguyễn, 2025)
Technique, Material and Unique
Nguyễn’s practice spans photography, staged imagery, collage, and the use of domestic materials. Her work often incorporates personal objects, home interiors, vernacular photographs, and cultural signifiers. She draws from documentary traditions while combining them with constructed or theatrical methods.
Throughout her works, Vân-Nhi Nguyễn focuses on “exploring the multidimensional narratives of relationships, sexuality and aesthetics through her own experience and the different communities she has lived in.” (HKIPF, 2023)
Exhibitions(Nguyễn, 2025)
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
ARGUMENTS
• Why does she deserve a Wiki page?
Because her vision in not only in photography but also in graphic design is unique and irreplacable. A young vision with open-minded eyes brings to her other aspects of ordinary life, from small details to be an important part of the key theme. For me, the Wikipedia page not only give a general look of her biography, but also presenting a young – talented – thoughtful photographer. Futhermore, Wikipedia page is a great step to introduce a gifted person to the world, and to become an international figure.
“Young and quirky-looking, the subjects lend themselves to Nhi’s experiment, revealing how two unacquainted people express (dis)comfort in physical proximity. Perhaps the photographer and her subjects share something unsaid: the stage of raw vulnerability, out-of-placeness, and uncertainty about their future.” (Matca, 2021)
• Why did she choose it?
In my opinion, in Vietnam, people respect in all of heritages of historical and people who lives in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, is more honoured, that’s the reason why she want to express her works to the audience. Besides, throughout her works, we can see how she practiced with her intentions, such as her models’ posing, color gamma, and the room set-up.
Based on her answer in Matca:
“I thought of photographing people in a situation where intimacy is imposed upon them, to see how close they can get. The experience of making portraits itself is important to me, sometimes even more than the end result.” (Matca, 2021)
• What is the key of whole her works?
Her works focus on the nostalgia of Vietnam in the 2000s century, by fusing the the material from the pass and present to express how people look. Moreover, by focusing on exposing gender throughout her images, she made no gap between male and female. Posing and models’ appearances are the way to highlight the gender aspect; she merges the domestic heritage with her creative vision to become a unique one.
“Her work explores the entanglement between dreams, memories and physicality, how they define the past and the future - looking, seeing, questioning, believing. Nguyễn examines the excess of pictures in today’s image-saturated world, by looking at its (meta)physical connection with one’s own and the mass. Through staged, idealistic domestic pictures, and collages made from both stock images and her own photographs, Nguyễn looks into ways that she can create a world parallel to this through capitalistic tendencies, yet untethered.” (NARS, 2023)
• What is the under-representation of her point, her value?
Due to some regulations in Vietnam, artists can public their works about how beautiful/good/clean of Vietnam is, Vân-Nhi Nguyễn brings a new horizon in postraits, human, gender, and more than that is the hidden art can be seen in common. To extend the opinion, Vietnam has strict laws relating to sexuality, gender, nudity and identity, which they say are out of the habits and customs. Because of those laws, Vietnamese artists who working on those aspects can not public their works clearly and confidentially. They just keep their artworks as underground properties, but Vân-Nhi Nguyễn is one of the young and open-minded artists who want to express their ego and the different aspects of Vietnam.
“Most of the work doesn’t get approved unless it talks about how clean this city is or how beautiful the landscape in Vietnam is. It’s a very touristic kind of ideal,” Nguyên explains. “Artists are responding by making work that’s true to themselves, but a lot of the time they don’t have the platform to showcase their work, which is also the reason why you don’t get to see a lot of Vietnamese art outside of the country.” (Loftin, 2025)
LINKS AND REFERENCES
The Dossier (2024) Vân-Nhi Nguyen, Fashion & Market. Available at: https://www.fashionandmarket.net/the-dossier-directory/van-nhi-nguyen (Accessed: 09 December 2025).
Force, T.L. (2023) Vân-Nhi Nguyen’s bold perspective on the lives of young people in Vietnam, Aperture. Available at: https://aperture.org/editorial/van-nhi-nguyens-bold-perspective-on-the-lives-of-young-people-in-vietnam/ (Accessed: 09 December 2025).
Fotomuseum Winterthur (2023) Museum for Photography and Visual Culture: Vân-nhi nguyễn, Fotomuseum Winterthur. Available at: https://www.fotomuseum.ch/en/photographer-post/van-nhi-nguyen/ (Accessed: 09 December 2025).
Hanoi Grapevine’s Finest (2024) Finest artists 2024: Vân-Nhi Nguyễn - Hanoi grapevine. Available at: https://hanoigrapevine.com/2024/05/finest-artists-2024-van-nhi-nguyen/ (Accessed: 09 December 2025).
HKIPF (2023) Introducing: Vân-Nhi Nguyễn • HKIPF, Hong Kong International Photo Festival. Available at: https://hkipf.org.hk/resources/introducing-van-nhi-nguyen/ (Accessed: 09 December 2025).
Loftin, R.L. (2025) Vân-Nhi Nguyễn crafts a new portrait of Vietnam, to Be Magazine. Available at: https://tobemagazine.com.au/van-nhi-nguyen-crafts-a-new-portrait-of-vietnam/ (Accessed: 09 December 2025).
Maher, D.M. (2023) In her ongoing series, photographer Vân-Nhi Nguyễn subverts colonial perceptions of Vietnam, It’s Nice That. Available at: https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/van-nhi-nguyen-as-you-grow-older-project-photography-150523 (Accessed: 09 December 2025).
Matca (2021) Ones to watch: Nguyen Van Nhi, Matca. Available at: https://matca.vn/en/ones-to-watch-nguyen-van-nhi/ (Accessed: 09 December 2025).
NARS (2023) Vân-Nhi Nguyễn, NARS Foundation. Available at: https://www.narsfoundation.org/artists-curators/profile/van-nhi-nguyen (Accessed: 09 December 2025).
NARS (2025) Architectures of intimacy, NARS Foundation. Available at: https://www.narsfoundation.org/events/event/architectures-of-intimacy-anh-dao-ha (Accessed: 09 December 2025).
Nguyễn, V.-N. (2022) Vân-Nhi Nguyễn instagram. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/vnnhi/ (Accessed: 09 December 2025).
Nguyễn, V.-N. (2025a) Van-Nhi Nguyen- full resume 2025, Vân-Nhi Nguyễn Resume. Available at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSn7Z5NOSc4Adrqg7o1uCY2Ddic_vDyG9hoB_0q4Q4HczDPm_xrHO_ys5lKfiN4nt1yoA9-rdMinkte/pub (Accessed: 09 December 2025).
Nguyễn, V.-N. (2025b) Vân-Nhi Nguyễn. Available at: https://vannhinguyen.com/ (Accessed: 09 December 2025).
