Exhibition – Uniform Fashion

Thy Tran (b. Ho Chi Minh city, 1988) is a Vietnamese-Australian visual artist currently living and working in Saigon. She graduated in 2012 with a BFA from MADA at Monash University.  In 2014, she began working as a freelance photographer, collaborating with several fashion publications in Melbourne.

In 2015, she moved to Ho Chi Minh city, where she began to work with other local artists, as well as devote more time to her personal documentary projects.

1988    Born in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam
2012    Graduated from Monash University, with a Bachelor degree of Visual Arts
2012    Group exhibition: MADA Now 2012, Monash University, Melbourne
2014    Started working as a freelance photographer

SERIE DISPOSITION

When I look at ‘fashion’, clothing and models appear as mere props.

Through the lens, I look for shapes and forms, not the individuals.  The more I avoid eye contact, the more I find it comfortable and easy to work with. It allows me to focus completely on the physical contact and this has always played a big part in my work: to depict abstract form of bodies and bodily limbs through disorientating formal experimentation. There are many ‘faceless figures’ within my work; the act of mystifying a person’s identity has become my obsession.

The conservatism of fashion photography can restrict the photographer’s creativity. However, through my exercise in photographic experimentation with forms and compositions, it enables me to gain a deeper understanding of how photography can both assert and transform its subjects.  The act of looking at these photographs allows me to propose to viewers a direct relationship with the photographic and not the fashionable. All the elements of these fashion images – the models, the location, the clothing – are in service to photography.

My sculptural images go through many iterations to reach their final destination: still-lifes are created and staged; performed and documented. Photography is used as the final medium to record the entire process. Often, my works circle their way back to drawing or sculpture. Using richly contrasting shadows, casual lines and shapes, I start to render my subjects anonymous, shielding them from the observer’s eyes.

He is living in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) for 4 years, working now in photography and digital media field.  Beside the commercial works, he is involved in the Saigonese artistic scene and has founded a photography magazine XEM with a group of artists

2013 – Collective exhibition XEM in San Art Space in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
2006 – Solo Photography Exhibition – Asia Interferences, at Hanoi Studio Gallery, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
2003/2005 – LAGAI art gallery founder director in Hoi An, Vietnam

SERIE LUXE MYTHOLOGY

Neons of luxury are glowing on the deserted avenue.
The glass facades reflect the logos that spread their mystical light in the night, a continual desire generated by billions invested of advertising.
From Paris to Saigon via Hong Kong, it flows throughout the journey with the same stage direction.

Evanescent statues are covered with shimmering costumes. In the halo of the alcoves, cult objects are offered by hands, almost graspable through the thin glass wall.
Many doors protect this paradise. To unlock them, a doll is the guide for this child’s play.The moment of communion with the Brand is at this price: a short moment of physical contact, almost like the reality of a dream.

The return of the morning will clear the satisfaction and the desire will constantly renew from this vacuum.

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