Diane Severin Nguyen
2. MÖREL X MEP
Diane Severin Nguyen’s photographs invites us to immerse ourselves in the question of the meanings and significance of the material world. In ephemeral compositions, the artist combines synthetic objects (chains, textiles...) with organic substances (hair, fruit...), at times adding liquids or combustible materials with loaded political associations such as napalm. The tension created between these substances gives rise to exchanges - of fluids, materials, movements - of which her photographic works remain the sole visual evidence. Her vibrantly coloured images can de-stabilise perception. This occurs both by playing with a sense of scale and by the materials that she uses taking on the appearance of torn flesh or distintegrating matter. There is therefore something profoundly physical, even visceral, about Diane Severin Nguyen’s photographs. Her works trigger responses that can range from discomfort to pain, from pleasure to desire. By playing on this evocative power of objects, Nguyen tells stories about the invisible or imperceptible fragilities of the flesh, and ways in which our bodies contaminate themselves.
About the Artist
Diane Severin Nguyen (born in 1990, in Carson City, California) lives and works between Los Angeles and New York. She studied political science at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2013 before earning a Master of Fine Arts at the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College, New York, in 2020. Her work has been featured in numerous exhibitions in the United States and worldwide, including exhibition at the Huis Marseille, Amsterdam (2022); the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2020); the 13th Shanghai Biennale (2020) and at the SculptureCenter in New York (2019). Her films were shown at the 57th New York Film Festival (2019) and at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (2020).
Edition of 250
52 pages + covers
40 pages uncoated & 12 pages coated stock
179 x 240mm
ISBN: 978-907071-94-9
Published in conjunction with the exhibition:
Diane Severin Nguyen
Maison européenne de la photographie, Paris 31.03.2023 - 21.05.2023
