Ancient spiritual practices, esoteric rituals, re-imagined mythological imagery and religious behaviors have been at the center of my art.

For many years, I have been fascinated by the powerful influences that religions and beliefs have played in many aspects of human existence, and I have been searching for connections between them to try to understand their unshakable importance in the human psyche.
Influenced by psychological and philosophical texts, I have been building an array of realms inhabited by magical, often esoteric, creatures. But my interest in religion lies on the evolution of its rituals, iconography and manifestations rather than on a theological perspective.

Alchemy and syncretism are two recurring key words in my research. Stemming from a personal curiosity in mythology and legends, I collect images, pictures and texts, which then, like in alchemy, are transmuted into esoteric worlds, where eeriness and ethereal magic live side by side. I also see alchemy as a metaphor of my art practice and life – a quest for improving myself as an artist, but as a person and as a mother, a spiritual and intellectual research evolving in parallel with material experimentations.

When living in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam during 15 years, Caodaism (a southern Vietnamese monotheistic religion that incorporates teachings from Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and Christianity) has been another inspiration for me; I see it as an example of Vietnamese cultural and its ability to freely absorb a variety of sources and merge them together without restrictions.
This same principle is applied in my work, where I create my own universe of religious gestures, imageries, rituals and movements, and, through it, the viewers can ascertain my personal creative recollection and make it their own.

Miscellany

Feb 2021 – present

Founder and director of O Gabinete de Madame Thao, Lisbon, Portugal (ogabinetedemadamethao.com)

June 2016 – July 2019

Director of Salon Saigon – Heritage and Contemporary Art (salonsaigon.com)

2017 - 2019

Jury member of Villa Saigon, artist residency program by Institut Francais in Ho Chi Minh Ville

2011-2013

Founding member of Saigon Creative monthly talks

2000-2011

Co-founder of Wonderful and Wonderful District – a non-profit organization curating art events, workshops and publications

2007 – 2010

Member of Jetlag – a Vietnam-based DJs and VJ collective

2005-2008

Founding member of Mogas Station – a Vietnam-based artists’ collective

2005-2006

Co-founder of Atelier Wonderful – an alternative art space in Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam

2002-2004

Director of publication of 5ememur magazine - trimestral magazine/nomadic art space presenting artists site specific works

EDUCATION

1993 – 1997 : École Pilote Internationale d’Art et de Recherche - Villa Arson

Diplôme National d’arts Plastiques

1997 – 1998 : Ho Chi Minh City University of Fine Art, Vietnam

1998 – 1999 : École Pilote Internationale d’Art et de Recherche - Villa Arson

Diplôme National Supérieur d'Expression Plastique

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023 (upcoming): A Base Ante-Sala e Salao, Lisbon, Portugal

2019 Chapitre 4 : Days and Nights of Revolving Joy, Galerie Quynh, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

2017 Chapitre 3: Les 101 grandes déesses, Le Point Commun, Annecy, France

2016 The Cabinet of Doctor Komo, Kenpoku Art, Ibaraki, Japan

La diagonale du fou, SPRMRKT, Singapore

2015 Chapitre 2: Midi, L'Espace, Hanoi, Vietnam

2014 Daisy, Daisy, San Art Production, Phuong My Flagship Store, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

2013 Chapter 1: Where I attempt to drown the dragon, Galerie Quynh, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

Day of Discovery, Renaissance Riverside Hotel, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

2012 Ligne de fuite, Post Vidai Collection, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

2011 I would prefer not to, Give Art, Singapore

2010 The Complex of the Glass Frog, Galerie Quynh, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

2008 Ce que je dis trois fois est absolument vrai, 3x+, Le mois de l’image, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

Milk, Galerie Quynh, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

2006 Welcome Home, itinerant exhibition organized by Ipso Facto Gallery, apartment of Mai Tran, Christophe Salaun and their children, Nantes, France

2005 Troi oi!, Galerie Quynh, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

2004 Bleu presque transparent, Galerie Cortex Athletico, Bordeaux, France

Chambre d’amis, Sandrine Llouquet and Bertrand Peret’s apartment, Bordeaux, France

2003 Livre N°12 (published by Peravprod), La Quincaillerie, Bordeaux, France

2002 Kiki restaurant, Chez Chalana, Bordeaux, France

2000 Un thé chez les fous, No Beach, Bordeaux, France

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023 (Upcoming) Metaxu, Toulon, France

2022 "Art in the Park" – Saigon Contemporary Art fair, Park Hyatt Saigon, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

2020 Natura, Artfem Macau Biennale, China

2019 Where the Sea Remembers, The Mistake Room, Los Angeles, US

2018 Alluvium, Galerie Quynh, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

2017 The Foliage, VCCA, Hanoi, Vietnam

Iris noirs resilients, Montpellier, France

2016 Transmutations, Galerie Quynh, Ho chi Minh city, Vietnam

2015 Carne Vale (duo show), Galerie Quynh, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

The Primacy of Drawing, Dia Project, Ho chi Minh city, Vietnam

2014 Papier(s), Fondation Salomon, Annecy, France

Drop, Galerie Quynh, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

Spring Galleria, San Art, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

Galerie Quynh 10th anniversary, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

On the streets, Java Arts, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

2013 Sovereign Asian Art Prize exhibition and auction in Singapore, Espace Louis Vuitton, Singapore

2012 AAA Annual Foundraiser, Sotherby's, Hong Kong

Group show, Galerie Quynh, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

2011 Vis a vis, Galerie Quynh, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

Affordable Art Fair, with Give Art, Singapore

Shaping a line, San Art, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

Esperantopolis, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

Mise en scene, Galerie Quynh, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

The Art of Travel, Air France event, Flow, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

Now Boarding. Island Thinking and Flights of Fancy, Give Art, Singapore

2010 Affordable Art Fair, with Give Art, Singapore

Collective Memories: Together in Electric Dreams, Give Art, Singapore

ART HK 10, with Galerie Quynh, Hong Kong

No Soul For Sale 2, with Sanart, Tate Modern, London, UK

No conical hat, Give Art, Singapore

Of reveries and obsessions, Galerie Quynh. Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

Bordeaux Block Party, Eponyme Galerie, Bordeaux, France

2009 Half of the Sky, Galerie Quynh, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

Hanoi Future Art, Hanoi, Vietnam
Nghe Thuat Sap Dat, Ho Tram resort, Vietnam
Who Do You Think We Are?, Bui Gallery, Hanoi, Vietnam

New Asian Promises, Palais Project, Vienna, Austria

2008 FOBII: Arts speaks, VAALA Center, Santa Ana, Californie, USA

Olio the year end show, Galerie Quynh, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

transPOP: Korea Vietnam Remix, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, US

Art multiple, Ke Center for the Contemporary Arts, Shanghai, China

transPOP: Korea Vietnam Remix, ARKO Art Center, Seoul, South Korea

Supervues, Hotel Burrhus, Vaison la Romaine, France

2007 Requiem for a wall, Galerie Quynh, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

Shenzhen Biennale (with Mogas Station), China (brochure)

Le mois de l’image (with Mogas Station), Ho Chi Minh City Fine Art Museum, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Migration Addicts (with Mogas Station), a collateral event of the 52nd Venice Biennale, Caffè Aurora, Piazza San Marco, Venice, Italy (brochure and catalog)

2006 LZ (with Mogas Station), Goethe-Institut, Hanoi, Vietnam

Belief (with Mogas Station), Singapore Biennale 2006 (brochure and catalog)

Jouissance, Xu Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

2005 Rendezvous, Blue Space Contemporary Art Center, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

2004 Aujourd’hui c’est ravioli, Galerie Cortex Athletico, Bordeaux, France

Buy sellf, municipal spaces, Marseille, France

2003 Incomprehension (with Le Pavillon), Palais de Tokyo site de création contemporaine, Paris, France

Soleil sur Nantes, Show Bedroom, Nantes, France

Ctrl+O, Inkorporation, Toulouse, France

2001 Generic Workspace, Bordeaux, France

Buy sellf, Galerie BF15, Lyon, France

1999 3 en k, Galerie rue Quineleu, Rennes, France

1998 Hoa si tre, Long Phi, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

1997 Tôi là ai, Ho Chi Minh City University of Fine Art, Vietnam

1995 Nice by night, with Villa Arson, Nice, France

Performance / Directing, staging

2019 Lub Qhov Rooj, performance, 20’, with dancers Đặng Minh Hiển, Phan Thái Bình, Phan Tiểu Ly, Sùng A Lùng and choreographer Nguyễn Phúc Hùng, Krossing Over Arts Festival, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

2018 Perinthia, performance, 20', with dancer Nguyen Minh Tam and musicians Zach Shreier and Benoit Bottex, Krossing Over Arts Festival, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam / Toulon, France / Paris, France

CURATORIAL EXPERIENCE / WORKSHOPS

2023 – upcoming (June 2023) : Group exbibition (Andre Almeida e Sousa, Francisca Carvalho, Run Jiang, Pedro Proenca, Luis Almeida, Constanca Arouca), Metaxu, Toulon, France

2022 : 1 (Thao Nguyen Phan, Truc-Anh, Le Phi Long, Florian Song Nguyen, Mai-Loan Tu, Quentin Spohn, Nina Fraser, Bertrand Peret, Andre Almeida e Sousa, Francisca Carvalho, Run Jiang, Pedro Proenca, Luis Almeida, Constanca Arouca, Madalena Parreira), O Gabinete de Madame Thao, Lisbon, Portugal

Ainda não sabemos ao certo que florestas vamos atravessar (Nadege David, oang Duong Cam, Le Phi Long, Bertrand Peret, Pedro Proenca, Francisca Carvalho), O Gabinete de Madame Thao, Lisbon, Portugal

2018 Les Villes Invisibles / Festival Krossing Over (Bao Vuong, Florian Nguyen, Sto Len, Hoang Nguyen, Dat Vu), Metaxu, Toulon & L’Etoile du Nord, Paris

2017 Then I Can Turn the World Upside Down (Florian Nguyen, Hoang Nam Viet, Nguyen Manh Hung, Mai Hoang, Le Hoang Bich Phuong), Salon Saigon

To shut his thoughts up,he paints them clear and watches them dry (Mai Loan Tu), L'Usine, Ho Chi Minh city

Salon Saigon Permanent Collection (Bùi Công Khánh, Tiffany Chung, Hà Mạnh Thắng, Hoàng Dương Cầm, Chinh Lê, Dinh Q. Lê, Lê Hoàng Bích Phượng, Lê Thừa Tiến, Nguyễn BanGa, Nguyễn Hữu Trâm Kha, Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, Nguyễn Phương Linh, Oanh Phi Phi, The Propeller Group, Trần Trọng Vũ, Truc Anh, Trương Tiến Trà, Trương Tân and Võ Trân Châu), Salon Saigon, Ho Chi Minh city

2016 Bittersweet Whispers (Mai-Loan Tu, Ngo Thi Thuy Duyen, Le Hoang Bich Phuong), Salon Saigon, Ho Chi Minh city

2008 AliceIN Miami (with Wonderful District and architect Tam Vo Phi and engineer Olivier Llouquet), organized by Bui Gallery, Miami Beach, US – with the participation of video-artist Stephane Cochard

AliceIN Paris (with architect Tam Vo Phi and engineer Olivier Llouquet), organized by Bui Gallery, Paris, France – with the participation of choregrapher Rachid Ouramdane

2007 AliceIN Saigon (with Wonderful District and architect Tam Vo Phi and engineer Olivier Llouquet), Le mois de l’image, Fine Art Museum, Galerie Quynh, IDECAF, Ho Chi Minh City Photography Association, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam – four nights of installation, video and sound performances in the nomadic architectural structure AliceIN – with the participation of Richard Streitmatter-Tran, Robert Cianchi, Nhu Huy

A Wonderful Weekend (with Wonderful District), 72-13, Singapore - 3 days of exhibition, video projection, talks, sound performances, DJ and VJ nights – with the participation of Stephane Cochard, NS101, Madame Patate, Fugu, Vu Nhat Tan, Jean Phan, Rich Streitmatter-Tran, Robert Cianchi, Tam Vo Phi

Bonjour Colette (with Wonderful District) – a series of workshops (Flash animation, graphic design, illustration and writing, wall painting, sculpture, video) with children of Ecole Colette – with the participation of Anna Tuyen Tran, Jean Phan, Olivier Llouquet

2006 : Atelier Wonderful (with Wonderful District), Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam - public programming included lectures on the visual arts, architecture, design, illustration, graffiti and other creative expressions; exhibitions, video projections; concerts; presentations of work by students. Events occurred weekly over five months – with the participation of Delphine Trouche, BOOT, GF, G2, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, Julie Tseselsky, George Papadimas, Bui Cong Khanh, Justin Barrera, Anna Tuyen Tran, Do Hoang Tuong, Jean-Baptiste Bressy, Richard Streitmatter-Tran, Nhu Huy, Bruno Peinado, Motoko Uda, Seiji Shimoda, Thach Thao, Maharishi, Bui The Trung Nam, Laure Bollinger, Gulschan Gothel, Laurent Jeanneau, Nicolas Lainez, Tam Vo Phi, Karen Maldonado, Ecole Colette, British school…

2005 : Rendezvous (electronic and digital art event, with Wonderful District), Blue Space Contemporary Art Center, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam – with the participation of Heidi, Tran Kim Ngoc, Rich Streitmatter-Tran, Bui Cong Khanh, Benoit Maire

Sunday morning (with Wonderful), Galerie Fra Angelico, Nantes, France – publication in collaboration with Frederic Amproux

2003 : Fémina squat (with Wonderful),, La Pieuvre, Point Noire, Republic of Congo - workshop and exhibition with a group of congolese artists organized by PSAP

Wonderful, Lendroit, Rennes, France

2003 : Les enfants du mercredi (with Wonderful), - workshop with children from CapcMusée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux, H14, Bordeaux, France – with the participation of Seydou Grepinet

2002 – 2004: 5ememur magazine (with Wonderful - trimestrial magazine/nomadic art space welcoming artists site specific works) – with the participation of Paul Devautour, Seulgi Lee, Ciaddict.org, Laetitia Bourget, Erational, Julien Previeux, Beate Engl, Damien Mazieres, Remi Marie, Marc Vernier, Arnaud Maguet, Francoise Quardon, Pascale Martine-Tayou, Laurent Septier, Frederic Latherrade, Jean-Luc Desmond, Arnaud Ducasse, Bui Cong Khanh, Camille Fallet, Karin Pelte, Pierre Giquel, Maitetxu Etcheverria, Karim Ghelloussi, Patrice Ferreira, Axel Huber, Alexander Raima, Sebastien Blanco, PNCI, Jean-Luc Verna, Inkorporation, Patrich Hospital, Sylvain Courtoux, Anne-Marie Pecheur, Julien Bouillon

2001: Aller-retour (with Wonderful), artistic exchange between Bordeaux and Nantes – exhibitions in museums, cinemas, apartments, art galleries, cafes, night clubs - with the participation of 36 artists and collectives from Bordeaux and Nantes

2000: No Beach (with Wonderful), itinerant exhibition in apartments and a night club, Bordeaux – with the participation of 8 international artists and collectives

WRITING

2006 – 2009 : articles for Noi That magazine, Doanh Nhan Saigon Cuoi Tuan (Vietnam)

2006: Articles for Aart magazine (Vietnam)

2004: Rendez-vous sur un banc public (exposition Sébastien Vonier), Bordeaux Culture Juin

Nicolas Milhé: mémorial “Sicile”, “Portugal”, “Pays de Galle”, catalogue La valise, Nantes

2003 : 16 décembre 2002, catalogue Péravprod, éditions CapcMusée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux

2002 – 2004: articles and interviews for 5ememur magazine

2002 – 2003: articles for TILT (contemporary art newspaper published by the FRAC Aquitaine)

PARTICIPATION IN SYMPOSIUMS AND CONFERENCES

2019: Arts & Museum Summit: « Collection Practices of the 21st Century », organized by Asia Society, New Delhi, India

2018: Cultural and Creative Hubs Vietnam Project - The British Council, Hanoi, Vietnam

Korea Research fellow, 10 global curators x 10 Korean curators: "Asian Visual Culture and Art" - The Korean Culture and Information Service, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea

2017: CIMAM Annual Conference: "The roles and Responsibilities of Museums in Civil Society", National Gallery, Singapore

2006: "Cultural Ecologies: Communicating Contemporary Art in the 21st Century" - Asia Art Archive, Drama Theatre, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Wanchai, Hong Kong