Critical Distance PROGRAMMING EVENT: Artist Talk by Jacqueline Hoàng Nguyễn

Critical Distance is pleased to present visiting artist Jacqueline Hoàng Nguyễn in partnership with York University. Drawing from the artist’s interdisciplinary PhD research, the talk will focus on Nguyễn’s film in progress, Visions in the Dark (working title). Set in early 20th-century Indochina and Paris, the film imagines the life of Khánh Ký (1885-1946), an aspiring Vietnamese photographer whose rise through the social ranks—documenting both anthropometric portraits and the colonial elites—reflects the tensions between ambition and a deep-seated desire for national liberation.

By revisiting both official and personal archives, Nguyễn not only brings to light the forgotten contributions of Vietnamese photographers but also reexamines the role of photography in shaping nationalist movements and political imagination under French rule. This talk will offer a glimpse into the unseen histories and marginalized narratives that emerge from the darkroom—both as a physical space of photographic development, and as a metaphor for the hidden layers of history waiting to be exposed. Don’t miss this opportunity to engage up close and in-person with Nguyễn’s practice, which sits at the intersection of cinema, contemporary art, and critical theory, and challenges dominant narratives of the colonial past.

Jacqueline Hoàng Nguyễn is a visual artist and doctoral fellow in the Art, Technology, and Design program at Konstfack and the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden (expected completion in 2026). Her research has gained significant attention as part of the growing global discussion
on a more nuanced understanding of photography and its production in local contexts outside the Western world. She has given lectures at the Saigon Social Sciences Hub (Ho Chi Minh City, 2023); Matca in Hanoi & IC Visual Labs in Bristol (online, 2023); National Gallery Singapore (online, 2022); Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art (Paris, 2022); and the Musée du quai Branly (Paris, 2022), where she co-authored an article with Édouard de Saint-Ours in the exhibition catalog Les débuts de la Photographie (2023, by Musée du quai Branly & Actes Sud). Nguyễn’s work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre (Kingston, Ontario, 2022); the Borås Art Biennial (Borås, Sweden, 2021); Bonniers Konsthall (Stockholm, Sweden, 2021); MA*GA Museum (Gallarate, Italy, 2021); Trinity Square Video (Toronto, 2019); CAMPLE LINE (Thornhill, Scotland, 2019); and the Sharjah Art Foundation (Sharjah, UAE 2018), among others.

This program is made possible through funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Critical Distance gratefully acknowledges funding support from the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario.