THẢO NGUYÊN PHAN

b. 1987, Vietnam

Thảo Nguyên Phan Biography

Thảo Nguyên Phan is internationally renowned for her poetic, multi-layered artworks which explore the historical and ecological issues facing her homeland Vietnam, while speaking to broader ideas around tradition, ideology, ritual and environmental change.

Phan’s mesmerising work intertwines mythology and folklore with urgent issues around industrialisation, food security and the environment. The threat posed by the destruction and excessive consumption of Earth’s resources is a recurring theme across her practice.

Through storytelling, and the mixing of official and unofficial histories, her work often amplifies narratives that are less well documented, or in some cases obscured.

^{Text courtesy Tate St Ives}

Thảo Nguyên Phan Pricing / Available Works

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Explore Thảo Nguyên Phan's Exhibitions

Contemporary art exhibition Thao Nguyen Phan Truong Cong-Tung The Sun Falls Silently at Palais de Tokyo Paris France

Thao Nguyen Phan, Truơng Cong-Tung The Sun Falls Silently Palais de Tokyo 12 June–7 September 2025
Paris

Contemporary art exhibition Group Exhibition Cloud Chamber at Para Site Hong Kong

Group Exhibition Cloud Chamber Para Site 17 August–24 November 2024
Hong Kong

Contemporary art exhibition Thao Nguyen Phan Reincarnations Of Shadows at Pirelli HangarBicocca Milan Italy

Thao Nguyen Phan Reincarnations Of Shadows Pirelli HangarBicocca 14 September 2023–14 January 2024
Milan

Representative Artworks

Thao Nguyen Phan, Becoming Alluvium (2019) (video still). Single-channel colour video. 16 min, 40 sec. Produced by Han Nefkens Foundation. Courtesy the artist.
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Thao Nguyen Phan, Becoming Alluvium (2019). Exhibition view: Reincarnations of Shadows, Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan (14 September 2023–14 January 2024). Produced and commissioned by the Han Nefkens Foundation in collaboration with Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona; WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels; Chisenhale Gallery, London. Courtesy the artist and Pirelli HangarBicocca. Photo: Agostino Osio.
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Thao Nguyen Phan, Reincarnations of Shadows (moving-image-poem) (2023). Exhibition view: Reincarnations of Shadows, Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan (14 September 2023–14 January 2024). Commissioned by Pirelli HangarBicocca; co-produced by Fondazione In Between Art Film. Courtesy the artist and Pirelli HangarBicocca. Photo: Agostino Osio.
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Exhibition view: Thao Nguyen Phan, Monsoon Melody, WIELS, Brussels (1 February–16 August 2020). Courtesy WIELS.
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Thao Nguyen Phan, Becoming Alluvium (2019). Exhibition view: Monsoon Melody, WIELS, Brussels (1 February–16 August 2020). Courtesy WIELS.
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Thao Nguyen Phan, Tropical Siesta (2017). Exhibition view: Monsoon Melody, WIELS, Brussels (1 February–16 August 2020). Courtesy WIELS.
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Thao Nguyen Phan, Tropical Siesta (2017). Exhibition view: Monsoon Melody, WIELS, Brussels (1 February–16 August 2020). Courtesy WIELS.
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Thao Nguyen Phan, Becoming Alluvium (2019) (still). Courtesy the artist.
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Thảo Nguyên Phan in Ocula Magazine

Spotlight Seismic Shifts: Diriyah Biennale Reflects a Kingdom in Motion Aaina Bhargava Offering Saudi Arabia’s perspective on the world, the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale captures the shifting cultural realities of a rapidly modernising nation.

Spotlight Forging Connections with the Han Nefkens Foundation Lorenza Pignatti Giving, caring, and nurturing talent: these are the core principles on which Dutch writer and patron Han Nefkens established his eponymous non‑profit foundation for video art in 2009.

Spotlight Tentacular Thinking through the Unfaithful Octopus Wong Binghao (Bing) How do artists borrow and adapt stories from elsewhere? A group exhibition at NTU Singapore considers the tentacular reach of the octopus as a metaphor for storytelling.

Spotlight Thao Nguyen Phan: Myth and Metaphor Jennifer Higgie The Vietnamese artist describes moving images as ‘a cascade of reincarnations’.

News Phaidon's New Art Book ‘PRIME’ Names Over 100 Future Art Superstars Sam Gaskin The list of artists under 40 was chosen by a jury of leading art professionals in the same age group.

Spotlight Pathways into Sculpture in Vietnam Nguyễn Thuỳ Dương At The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre in Ho Chi Minh City, four artists offer new pathways into sculpture.

News David Shrigley, Wolfgang Tillmans and More Offer Affordable Art to Combat COVID-19 Sam Gaskin Sales of works on paper and illustrated face masks will support charities and struggling art institutions.

Conversation Thao Nguyen Phan: Dangerous Optimism Tessa Moldan With Monsoon Melody on view at WIELS, Brussels, her largest solo exhibition to date, Thao Nguyen Phan discusses her transition to film to explore colonial legacies and ecological destruction in Vietnam.

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