The second round of the Matca Creation Grant supports the production of one photography exhibition and one series of texts, addressing the ongoing lack of sustained support for the professional development of photography practitioners. The exhibition grant is open to Vietnamese nationals residing in Vietnam, while the writing grant welcomes applicants of all nationalities.
We would like to thank everyone who took the time to apply to our open call. After a thorough review process conducted in collaboration with our guest mentors, we are pleased to announce the recipients: Nguyễn Ngọc Hải (Đà Nẵng) for the Exhibition category, and TN Đan (Singapore / HCMC) for the Writing category.
Each recipient will receive 10,000,000 VND to realize their proposals, along with artistic and logistical support from Matca and guest mentors Trương Quế Chi and Zhuang Wubin.
Nguyễn Ngọc Hải (Đà Nẵng) – Recipient of the Exhibition category
Nguyễn Ngọc Hải began shooting film photography in 2018. He currently works as a freelance wedding photographer and occasionally as a BTS photographer for independent films. His personal projects are centered on people from his everyday life, as a means of expressing how he sees and relates to the world. He is largely self-taught, having learned photography through practical experience and short workshops.
In the ongoing work Home (2020–present), Hải returns to his hometown, “a desolate little town nestled beneath the aging Trường Sơn mountain range”, after years of working in Saigon. Witnessing the rapid transformation of a place he once thought he knew so well, Hải begins revisiting familiar sites, documenting what still remains and what is soon to disappear. The project is a personal act of preserving memories while also reflecting the shifting economic and environmental landscape of a locale in central Vietnam.
Hải will receive 10,000,000 VND and mentorship from artist, curator Trương Quế Chi to realize a solo exhibition at Matca Space for Photography.
TN Đan (Singapore / HCMC) – Recipient of the Writing category
Based in Singapore, TN Đan writes about the visual cultures of Southeast Asia and its representations. His work has appeared in Art&Market, SGIFF, PR&TA, and Matca. He co-runs Monsoon Review, an online site dedicated to examining contemporary and historical production of cultures in Southeast Asia and beyond.
In a 1969 article published in a local magazine, veteran photographer Nguyễn Cao Đàm stated that domestic photo exhibitions rarely reflected the perspective of soldiers, despite some participating photographers having served in the military. He attributed this to the fact that photographers were more accustomed to pictorial conventions tied to civilian life. Notably, he opposed violent spectacles of the Vietnam War popularized by the Western press, advocating instead for the photographer-soldier's personal perspectives and artistically informed approaches to portraying war. Taking this as a point of departure, Đan will conduct further research through historical publications to explore lesser-known cases of non-combat photography in pre-1975 Vietnam, shedding light on the distinctive sensibility of war photography among Vietnamese art photography circles.
Đan will receive 10,000,000 VND and mentorship from writer, researcher Zhuang Wubin to realize a series of texts in English and Vietnamese.
The Matca Creation Grant is an initiative by Matca that supports photography projects from Vietnam’s local community. The grant provides cash funding, as well as artistic and logistical support, for proposals that involve image-making, writing, and exhibiting photography.
