Dinh Q. Lê. Courtesy of Mori Art Museum, Tokyo. Photo by Mikuriya Shinichiro
For over three decades, Dinh Q. Lê developed an artistic practice that reframed global histories of Southern Vietnam, challenging censorship, exploitation, and propaganda. Using his perspective as both an American Vietnamese immigrant and a gay man, Lê’s practice was often concerned with the mutability and insolvability of self-identity, memory, and the historical record.
In a tribute published in Artforum’s Summer 2024 issue, the writer and translator Hung Duong describe the global scope and local impact of Lê’s life and legacy as follows:
To many outside Vietnam, Dinh Q. Lê was simply a magnificent artist whose works struck a critical chord amid the narratives of the Vietnam War. But to us in Saigon, particularly the artists, writers, and art workers who became aware of unresolved political conflict in Vietnam thanks to his art, Dinh was a mentor, a trailblazer, a visionary, and a great friend. As a cofounder of Sàn Art, a platform that has invigorated contemporary art in Vietnam and Southeast Asia since 2007, Dinh remained steadfast in his commitment to nurturing young Vietnamese artists through exhibitions, residencies, and educational workshops. His wish was for Sàn Art to become not only a reflective space for local artists but a bridge connecting them to the arena of global art. “The world needs to know about them,” he exclaimed. Ever generous with his time and rigorous in his feedback, Dinh has paved the way for many now-famous Vietnamese artists. Words cannot describe our collective gratitude.
Dinh Q Lê was born in Ha Tien (1968), a Vietnamese town near the Cambodian border. Soon after the Cambodian invasion of Vietnam in 1978, the Lê family made a perilous journey and immigrated to Los Angeles where he and his six siblings were raised by their mother. Dinh Q. Lê went on to receive his BFA from UC Santa Barbara in 1989 and MFA from The School of Visual Arts in 1992.
In 1996, Lê moved from New York to Ho Chi Minh City. In 2007, he co-founded Sàn Art, an artist-led arts space, library, and educational center, providing grassroots support for innovative and experimental Vietnamese artistic practices and perspectives. In 2021, Dinh Q. Lê finally regained his Vietnamese citizenship.
Dinh Q Lê, participated in the 2013 Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA; DOCUMENTA (13) in 2012 Kassel, Germany; the 2009 Biennale Cuveê, OK Center for Contemporary Art, Linz, Austria; the 2008 Singapore Biennale, Singapore; the 2006 Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, Australia and the 50th Venice Biennale, 2003, Venice, Italy.
His solo exhibitions include Destination for the New Millennium, The Art of Dinh Q. Lê at the Asia Society, New York in 2005; Project 93: Dinh Q. Lê at Museum of Modern Art, New York in 2010; Memory for Tomorrow at the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo and Hiroshima City Art Museum in 2015; True Journey Is Return, San Jose Museum of Art, CA in 2018; and The Thread of Memory, Musee du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, Paris, France in 2022.
In 2010, Lê was awarded the Prince Claus Award for his outstanding contribution to cultural exchange.
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Dinh Q. Lê, Untitled from Vietnam to Hollywood (paratroopers), 2005, c-print and linen tape, 38 x 72 ins.
Dinh Q. Lê (1968-2024) was born in Ha Tien, a Vietnamese town near the Cambodia border. Soon after the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia in 1978, the Lê family immigrated to Los Angeles. After receiving a BFA from UC Santa Barbara, Lê began his first photo-weavings using a traditional technique he learned from his aunt. Lê participated in the 2013 Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA; the 2009 Biennale Cuveê, OK Center for Contemporary Art, Linz, Austria; the 2008 Singapore Biennale, Singapore; and the 2006 Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, Australia. His work has been exhibited at major institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; the San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA; MoMA PS1, New York, NY; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; Tufts University Art Gallery, MA; and the Asia Society, NY; among many others. In 2010, he was awarded the Prince Claus Award for his outstanding contribution to cultural exchange. P·P·O·W has represented Lê since 1998, presenting seven solo exhibitions before his sudden passing in April 2024. Devoted to asserting his own cultural history through his artistic practice, Lê established the nonprofit contemporary art space Sàn Art, leaving behind space for future generations to engage in their own pursuit of reclamation. In The Art Newspaper, Christopher Moore noted that “Dinh was an uncle to everyone in the Vietnamese art scene, young or old, local or foreigner, mentor to many.” In 2022, Lê was the subject of the exhibition The thread of memory and other photographs, musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, Paris, France, and was featured in Living Pictures: Photography in Southeast Asia, which was on view at the National Gallery Singapore through August 2023. He will be featured in Legacies: The Asian American Art Movement on the East Coast (1969-2001) at NYU’s 80WSE Gallery in fall 2024.