Fresh Faces: Lananh Lê

On her self-taught practice and the Vietnamese art scene
By Ho See Wah

Lananh Lê portrait and studio view. Image courtesy of Jo Ngo.

A&M's Fresh Faces is where we profile an emerging artist from the region every month and speak to them on how they kick-started their career, how they continue to sustain their practice and what drives them as an artist. Read our profile on Vietnamese artist Lananh Lê here.

Could you talk about your background? And at what point in your life did you decide to pursue a career in art?
I have a background in Comparative Studies from Stanford University, an interdisciplinary subject that integrates ethnic studies, history, religious studies, literature, poetry and creative writing. While I was living in America, I worked on social justice projects that dealt with gender imbalance, housing issues and social inequity. Eventually, it was not sustainable as I began to get what some people call “political activism burnout”.

I attended a workshop on how art was a psychological healing tool. Afterwards, I decided to create fictional, magical realist worlds that imagined alternate realities where nature, mythology, decay and genesis were the focus. They turned into art projects revolving around oral history, mythology, collective subconscious and public cultures of memory.

Could you share how you’ve maintained your practice after graduation? What are the important factors that kept you going?
I moved back to Vietnam to be with my family who have been very supportive of my artistic practice. My mother let me set up a painting studio in my grandmother’s house, where I have been in the studio for two years. I’ve worked on a series of paintings, sewn, worked with fabric, and wrote short stories and poetry. Eventually, patrons and curators came to my studio to buy my paintings, provide funding and collect my works for private collections and exhibitions. The sheer urge of being creative, touching the materials, arranging archives of research and playing with images has spurred me on and kept me going this far.

Lananh Lê, ‘Neuroforest’, 2019, exhibition installation view at MoT+++. Image courtesy of MoT+++.

How did the opportunity for your latest solo show come about?
Six months ago, I started working on a series of digital paintings. These eventually evolved into multiple frames of seven animated videos that lasted for approximately twelve hours. Ha from MoT+++ came to my studio to look at this new series of digital artworks and offered me mentorship and the opportunity to exhibit. 

What was the process like preparing for it?
The process of preparing for the show was very technical, from visual compositions to technological procedures. For example, I created the effect of having a magnifying glass slowly moving and zooming into the tiny microscopic details of the different frames. The magnifying glass in the videos acts like the sun and moon: moving across the sky, and eventually around the entire universe, so slowly you can hardly see it moving. This series, ‘Frozen Data’, was a work in progress, an experimentation with the digital medium, and an exercise in collecting high-brow images of art history from the public domain as well as low-brow images from clip art sites. A lot of the content was flowing from my subconscious and not organised by any kind of logic. It was a pretty unruly and disorderly process.

Lananh Lê, ‘Cactus Desert Thirst’, 2018, exhibition installation view at Chaosdowntown. Image courtesy of Ludovic Tran.

Who has been your mentor?
I will list my influences from the past two years in chronological order. I will always be appreciative towards my family, who welcomed me back and supported me since I moved home. There is also Aiden and Nu who started Vanguard, a zine for queer underground artists. Vicky Do and Xuan Ha from Chaosdowntown supported me through the unexpected struggles of exhibiting in my first solo show in Vietnam, ‘Cactus Desert Thirst’ (2018). This encompassed everything from the semantics of artist statements to moral support and guidance on being mentally prepared for the opening night and its accompanying critiques.

I received guidance from the MoT+++ team for ‘Frozen Data’ (2019) as well. They pushed me in my experimentation with digital paintings that eventually evolved into conceptually complex videos. I also gained a new perspective in playing around with the boundlessness of time, which was subliminal and surreal.

Which artists have been your artistic influences?
In terms of artistic influence, I am hugely influenced by a wide range of art and artists. This includes Pham Tran Viet Nam, Pham Ngoc Ha Ninh, Ta Huy Long, Geng Xue, Shinro Ohtake, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Dominique Fung, Octavia Butler, Rob Mulholland, Kiki Smith, Paula Rego and paintings by Dong Ho. The list is ever changing. I always find myself returning to a huge archive of influences. I still struggle with organising this.

What was one important piece of advice you were given?
I’ve been given the advice to never be completely satisfied with my work, for there is always room for improvement. It keeps me going and helps me to never get stuck in one place. For instance, this series was heavy on the technical side, from compositions and painting techniques to using technological tools. After this series, I am looking for more depth in substantial content, meaning and symbolisms. Perhaps I will explore this through more writing, analysis, research, storyboards and field studies. 

Lananh Lê, ‘Paradoxical Mingling of Symphonic Mysteries’, 2019, oil on canvas, 220 x 150cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

Could you share your favourite art space or gallery in your country?
MoT+++ holds highly experimental shows and invites artists from a wide range of backgrounds and mediums. A. Farm is a great community space where artists live and work together. Galerie Quynh, Sàn Art and The Factory have spectacular exhibitions, from installations, videos, paintings to multimedia. I’m also appreciative of emerging spaces such as 289e, an experimental art bar that supports local emerging artists and provides a great meeting place for creative people.

What are your hopes for your own local art scene, and regionally as well?
I hope that there will be more opportunities for emerging artists, including residencies, funding and resources. I also hope to see more spaces that break the norm of white-cube galleries, as well as more diversity and variety in art mediums. Currently, a lot of art spaces are concentrated in highly urban cities such as Saigon and Hanoi. I hope there will be more of such places and resources across the country, like in Hue, Da Nang, Hoi An and around the Mekong Delta.

Are there any upcoming projects that you would like to share more information on?
I am working on a new series of videos whose content is more structured, rather than an unruly subconscious. I am reading ‘Thần, người và đất Việt’ (Gods, People and the Vietnamese Land) by Tạ Chí Đại Trường, which talks about cultural changes hidden in the chaotic layers of indigenous myths and spiritual beliefs, specifically historical figures and their roles as spirits in the afterlife. Deep down in the minds of Vietnamese people, there exists a belief of the existence of the supernatural world.


We are saddened to share the news that Lananh passed away on 19 April 2020. Our condolences to Lananh’s family and loved ones.

MoT+++’s tribute to the artist here.