Nhu Xuan Hua
b. 1989
Nhu Xuan Hua (b. 1989) is a French artist and photographer of Vietnamese heritage, working between Paris and London. Known for her distinctive visual language, she collaborates with international fashion houses such as Dior, Maison Margiela, Kenzo, and Gucci, while contributing to leading publications like Vogue, Time Magazine, and Dazed Beauty.
Originally trained in fashion photography, Hua has gradually shifted toward a multidisciplinary and introspective practice that explores memory, identity, and displacement. Her solo exhibitions at Huis Marseille (Amsterdam) and Fotografie Forum Frankfurt (DE) have marked her emergence as a powerful voice in contemporary photography.
In 2021, she returned to Paris and began weaving personal narrative into her work. Her solo exhibition Hug of a Swan at Huis Marseille reflected on six years of practice, blending fashion commissions with autonomous works tied to her Vietnamese heritage. Her first book, Tropism: Consequences of a Displaced Memory (Area Books), uses family archives and digital manipulation to explore the erosion and transformation of memory. The project was shown at AnneLaure Buffard Inc. during Paris Gallery Weekend 2023 and invited by the Institut français to be part of Photo Hanoi — Vietnam’s first photography biennale.
In 2024, she co-created Heaven and Hell with artist Vimala Pons for the Rencontres d’Arles. This bold, multidisciplinary exhibition merged photography, film, documentary, and sound installation, offering a new sensory and spatial experience of photographic storytelling. Her work is held in public and private collections, including Huis Marseille, the JP Morgan Collection, and CNAP (Centre national des arts plastiques), which recently acquired her piece Family Portrait at the Wedding, Archive from year 85’ for France’s national collection.