Thi My Lien Nguyen - Gestures of Return

Thi My Lien Nguyen, who comes from Amriswil, is showing new photographic and video works that deal with return in various ways - to places, traditions and feelings. "I am interested in traces of proximity and distance, the legacy of memories and the passing on of stories," says the artist. In this way, she sensitizes us to what is passed on - and to what happens when we begin to shape these stories ourselves. "Gestures of Return" traces movements of return - not only geographically, but also emotionally, atmospherically and across intergenerational memories. Cycles of connection, loss and the quiet forms of belonging that are passed on oscillate between visibility and invisibility. Photography and video invite us to perceive the traces of memory and belonging anew - in images, gestures, smells and what remains unspoken. The video work "Fruits to Offer" (2025) is shown as a large spatial installation. It is a poetic reflection and consists of silent moving images, field recordings and the artist's voice. Return is not understood here as a linear movement, but as a loop of return - as a re-encounter with questions, places and roles. The work moves carefully between memory, observation and the finely interwoven realities of diasporic experience. The question of family origins, cultural location and belonging plays a central role in Thi My Lien Nguyen's work, far beyond her own biography. In her work, she addresses the "here and there": the simultaneity of different traditions and cultures. Biography Thi My Lien Nguyen was born in St. Gallen in 1995 and grew up in Amriswil. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Visual Communication from the Lucerne School of Art and Design. Her work is represented in public collections and has been exhibited internationally and in several Swiss museums, including Kunstmuseum St. Gallen (2024), 22nd Biennale Sesc_Videobrasil in São Paulo (2023), Museum Haus Konstruktiv Zurich (2023), Photo Hanoi at Vincom Center for Contemporary Art (VCCA) (2021). She is part of the curatorial team at Les Complices*, a self-organized, community-based off-space in Zurich dedicated to supporting the ideas and works of queer, trans, inter, non-binary, women* and BIPoC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color). In 2024, she took part in artist residencies in Vietnam (Pro Helvetia) and London (Landis & Gyr) and received the Freiraum grant from the Canton of Zurich in the same year.