Hug of a Swan Nhu Xuan Hua

Nhu Xuan Hua creates photographic art of her very own kind and is considered as a remarkable new talent. Born in Paris in 1989 to a family of Vietnamese origin, has made her name internationally as a fashion and portrait photographer. She works for magazines such as Vogue, The Wall Street Journal, Dazed Beauty and TIME Magazine as well as for major fashion brands such as Dior, Kenzoand Levi's. The exhibition NHU XUAN HUA. HUG OF A SWAN highlights the photographer's artistic work and underlines its fascinating versatility.

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On the other hand, she fascinates with her diverse artistic work. In all her photographs, objects and installations, she deals with global themes such as identity, origin and family history. The exhibition NHU XUAN HUA. HUG OF A SWAN shows that Nhu Xuan Hua’s oeuvre, both commissioned and autonomous works, is closely entwined in terms of content despite the diverse aesthetic approaches. She continually draws inspiration for her entire work from personal and family shared memories.

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Nhu Xuan Hua's family fled to Belgium and France after the Vietnam War (1955–1975), where Hua was born. After leaving her parental home, she felt increasingly cut off from her roots. So she interviewed family members about her past, hoping to fill the gap and learn something about herself. The artistic response to this research can be seen at Fotografie Forum Frankfurt: installations and objects specially designed for the exhibition, as well as digitally manipulated photographs inspired by family photos.

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Nhu Xuan Hua graduated from the photography course at the Auguste Renoir Academy of Art in Paris in 2011. One of her most famous photo shoots was cover of TIME Magazine in 2018; for the cover theme “Leaders of the next generation”, Hua had photographed the K-pop band BTS. Tropism, Nhu Xuan Hua's first monograph, was published in 2022 (by Area Books, Paris) and is available at FFF during the exhibition.

The Fotografie Forum Frankfurt presents the exhibition NHU XUAN HUA. HUG OF A SWAN in close collaboration with Huis Marseille, Museum for Photography, Amsterdam (HMA), where the artist’s work was shown in 2022 in a museum for the first time. The exhibition was curated by Nhu Xuan Hua together with Nanda van den Berg (Director, HMA) and Désirée Kroep (Junior Curator, HMA).

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