The Oskár Čepan Award
Kvet Nguyen
Archive
19. 4. 2024
The Oskár Čepan Award 2024 knows its laureates!
13. 4. 2024
13. 4. 2024
12. 4. 2024
11. 4. 2024
19. 2. 2024
Kvet Nguyen
CV
EDUCATION
2022 - present ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS AND DESIGN IN BRATISLAVA | SK / PHD studies - Department of Photography and New Media
2019 - 2021 ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS AND DESIGN IN BRATISLAVA | SK / Master studies - Department of Photography and New Media
2019 - 2020 ROYAL ACADEMY OF ART, THE HAGUE | NL / Erasmus studies - Department of Photography
2015 - 2019 ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS AND DESIGN IN BRATISLAVA | SK / Bachelor studies - Department of Photography and New Media
2018 PLYMOUTH COLLEGE OF ART | UK / Erasmus studies - Department of Photography
EXHIBITIONS - SOLO (selection)
2024
Leftover bodies / tranzit, Bratislava | SK (upcoming)
2023
You are allowed to mix apples and pears here / Centre A, Vancouver | CA
Harmless like you / City Gallery Třinec, Třinec | CZ
2022
Harmless like you / City Gallery Blansko, Blansko | CZ
Practicing otherness / Slovak institute in Budapest, Budapest | HU
2021
Mutual otherness / SODA Gallery, Bratislava | SK
Archive of returns / ČEPAN Gallery, Trnava | SK
2020
Reframing possibilities / SODA Gallery online
Reframing possibilties / Artapiešťany, Piešťany |SK
You are allowed to mix apples and pears here / fjúžn festival, Banská Štiavnica |SK
You are allowed to mix apples and pears here / fjúžn festival, Bratislava | SK
2019
memoryless, borderless, nameless space / fjúžn festival, Kalab, Bratislava | SK
EXHIBITIONS - GROUP (selection)
2023
Untitled 1973 II / exhibition “Family Ties” / Julius Koller Society, Bratislava | SK
Archive of returns / exhibition “Nho: A space between one end and the other” / Kunsthalle Bratislava | SK
Untitled 1973 / exhibition “Revived” / VCCA, Hanoi | VN
2022
residency research / Startpoint prize / Prague Hyb Gallery | CZ
photographs for Ukraine / exhibition Humanity / Pistori Palace | SK
selected works / International exhibition Skúter / Ján Koniarek Gallery, Trnava | SK
2021
Mutual otherness / Startpoint Prize exhibition / Prague Hyb Gallery | CZ
Archive of returns / Zlín Youth Salon 2021 / Regional gallery of fine arts in Zlín, Zlín | CZ
You are allowed to mix apples and pears here / Ján Koniarek Gallery, Trnava | SK
a collective psyche / Exhibition “The Burn before the Burn-out: The Promethean False ,Promise'”/ Karlín Studio, Prague, | CZ
2020
Reframing possibilities / Exhibition "Safe, hidden”, Nitra gallery, Nitra | SK
You are allowed to mix apples and pears here / Exhibition "Mother Tongue", The Grey Space in the Middle, The Hague | NL
2019
memoryless, borderless, nameless space / World Biennial Exhibition of Student Photography | SRB
fragility of being / Kvaka 22, Belgrade | SRB Photobook ADP (in collaboration with designer K. Uličná) / book fair LIVRE PARIS | FR
2018
A citizen by fluke / SLOVAK PRESS PHOTO, Bratislava | SK
Publication TRUST (in collaboration with photographer Andrea Kurjaková and designer Lucia Gamanová) / fjúžn Festival, Bratislava | SK
2017
Photobook ADP / OFF_FESTIVAL, Bratislava | SK
Photobook ADP / Uniwesytet artistyczny w Poznaniu | PL
Decadent tradition / Galeria Promocyjna ASP, Krakow | PL
AWARDS and OTHER 2024
Residency at Planta Alta, Hablarenarte, Madrid | ES
2022
Acquisition of Archive of returns by Regional Gallery of Fine Arts in Zlín | CZ
Photographer of the year, Central European House of Photography | SK
2021
Reframing possibilities, Tatra Banka foundation, Young Artist, (laureate)
Mutual otherness, Startpoint Prize, honorary mention
2019
memoryless, borderless, nameless space, World Biennial Exhibition of Student Photography | 2nd place
Statement
I consider art as a form of presenting my thoughts and ideas about the world, within which I can reflect on the past, present, or refer to the future. It is a kind of dialogue with the world / audience. Art cannot be apolitical because it concerns people and is created by people. And human is part of the community, society, and the country where politics is present. Politics concerns me as the daughter of migrants, and at the same time Vietnamese, who do not have political freedom in their home country. My parents are Vietnamese migrants who came to Slovakia before the Velvet Revolution. These two contrasting worlds are the basis for my thinking and the starting point for my future works. My parents are Vietnamese migrants who came to Slovakia before the Gentle Revolution. For me, these two contrasting worlds are the basis for thinking and the starting point for further work.
An important aspect in my work is coming back to history, to the memory of the family, nation, or world history - it is a source of evidence for something that has happened. The historical events that shaped me begin with the migration of my parents to Slovakia but continue back to the American War or French colonization, which formed today’s Vietnam. Without these events, I would not be who I am. I identify with my national identity when we call it Vietnamese-Slovak. I continue in this activist-artistic worldview. I see the rise of nationalist and neo-fascist tendencies as one of the main socio-political problems of our time, which can undermine the fragility of democracy. It is therefore important to address topics that can relate to the issues of democracy, tolerance and society.
I have approached these topics for example in works: Reframing Possibilities (2020), where I link the colonization history of Vietnam with my presence, A Citizen by Fluke (2018) helped me realize not only the fluidity of my identity, in Former Stories – New Histories (2018) I analyzed the family archive and found the space of diasporas as a variable and analyze having home in two places, work You are allowed to mix apples and pears here (2020) referred to the visual representation of different identities and nationalities using food material, and finally in the series Memoryless, Borderless and Nameless Space (2019) I referred to my own feelings and experience as a stranger in my homeland. The visual language I use is a language of search. Most of the photographs and works are created in staged settings. I don't stick to photography as a document, it's literally an image or a visual play that I use to deliver an idea. This acquired form of visuality is a shift from the traditional perception of the photographic medium, which can be beneficial to all parties involved.
My current dissertation topic of decolonization has begun in the Reframing Possibilities (2020) series. As Toni Morrison said,
"Colonization [and by extension decolonization] is closely related to racism and repression"
a theme that would be a continuous line in my work. I agree with Gabi Ngcobo's assertion, who said in an interview that we should all be "postcolonial". We would be contributing to a better society that is not based on difference but deconstructs imperialist, colonialist and ultimately capitalist views of race or identity.