Paintings and ceramic works featured in Iris Sa Phượng Nguyễn's solo debut. Photo courtesy of Mơ Art Space

HÀ NỘI — Artist Iris Sa Phượng Nguyễn makes her solo debut with an exhibition exploring the boundaries between reality and dreams, the human body and nature, and ecstasy and trauma.

Titled Where Shadows Breathe, the exhibition opens a primordial space for examining female identity beyond predefined frameworks.

“I do not attempt to recreate memories or pain, but let them transform on their own,” said Nguyễn.

“My paintings hold both darkness and gentle light. To me, they are not opposing forces, but support and uplift one another. In the deepest sorrows, there remains a fragment of life, of love, of the desire to be connected.”

Her works are at once dark and lonely, yet delicate and dreamlike. This world does not emerge from a void, but is nurtured by memories, emotions and deeply tangible wounds.

Through paintings and ceramic works, Nguyễn constructs a world in which women, animals, plants and hybrid beings exist beyond the stable laws of reality.

For the artist, these forms encompass memory, emotion and pain. Born and raised in a family surrounded by women, the image of the Asian woman and the mother has long been a source of inspiration.

“In the corner of the house, the women knew only how to stay silent and endure. The figure of the woman within me is etched with beautiful memories but equally fraught with such hardship.

“However, through painting, they are articulated into different forms. I do not try to replicate memory or pain but let them transform on their own.”

Based in Hà Nội, Nguyễn explores the intersection of magical realism and the world of dreams. Her practice centres on the subconscious and the act of dreaming, while continually examining how new worlds can emerge from the unconscious.

The exhibition is curated by Đỗ Tường Linh, who graduated from the Curatorial Studies programme at Bard College Berlin. She currently works as an art director in New York, London and Hà Nội.

Where Shadows Breathe runs until November 15 at Mơ Art Space from 9am to 8pm, Tuesday to Sunday. The exhibition is not suitable for children under 12. — VNS