Biography

Luu An, whose real name is Phan Trọng Nghĩa, attended the Ho Chi Minh City University of Architecture and Ho Chi Minh City University of Fine Arts without graduating. Feeling unfit for mainstream training systems, since 2014 Luu An has studied and practiced art by attending art workshops and talks held at independent cultural spaces and assisted other artists. In 2016 Luu An assisted artist Ưu Đàm with an installation work at the Body / Play / Politics exhibition at the Yokohama Museum, Japan. In 2017-2018, Luu An participated in the Vagina Talks project of artist Nhung Đinhh as an illustrator and assistant for the LipXinh exhibition with the role of listening to and sharing with the LGBTQ+ community. Finding a sense of belonging in the Queer community, whose voice, lifestyle and practice have been marginalized, Luu An chooses a cautious, considerate approach, manifest in acts such as recreating a new name, redrawing the bounds of language, tracing behind shifting presences, collecting and archiving historical documents, marginal stories and memories left out of the mainstream. Simultaneously, Luu An also makes illustrations and murals for a living. In 2020, Luu An created an interactive work in the exhibition space of Võ An Khánh’s photographs at San Art and assisted artist Nhung Đinh in the organization of the Queer Museum here.