Join us for a talk with Hanoi-based artist Hà Đào, a contributing writer to Greg Girard: Photographs 1972 – 2026.

While Vietnam has long been photographed from the outside, first through the lens of war and recently as a travel destination, little is known about the photographic conditions within contemporary Vietnam. As an artist and community organiser, Hà Đào has spent nearly a decade engaging with the country's photographic past and present through Matca, an independent photographer-run initiative based in Hanoi.

Since its founding in 2016, Matca has sought to open critical conversations around the medium by creating exhibitions, publications, and mentorship programmes that support emerging practitioners while fostering alternative forms of photographic knowledge. Notable among their recent works is The Unofficial Archive: Print Materials from Vietnam (2024), a research project highlighting locally produced and circulated photographic printed matter from during and after what is commonly known as the Vietnam War.

This talk offers a perspective on contemporary photography in Vietnam grounded in making, researching, and sustaining a community from within, and reflects on what it means to inherit a complex photographic legacy while assembling, with one's own resources, the structures needed to understand and expand that inheritance today.

Talk starts at 1:00pm

Your RSVP will guarantee you a seat at the event.

About the Artist
Hà Đào is an artist working with photography and moving image based in Hanoi. Inspired by the quiet drama of everyday life, her practice explores how personal fates intersect with larger histories and reflects on the notion of distance, with the camera as both witness and intermediary. Her lens-based works have been showcased at various spaces and programs such as Manzi Art Space (Vietnam), Xie Zilong Photography Museum (China), Lange Nacht der Bilder (Germany), Videoex (Switzerland), among others. Apart from her personal practice, she co-runs Matca, an independent initiative dedicated to opening conversations around photography in Vietnam.
www.ha-dao.com

This event is co-presented by the Critical Image Forum, an initiative for Research in Photography and Expanded Documentary at the University of British Columbia.

Banner image: The Unofficial Archive Catalogue, 2024