ROOTS & WORLDS 2025: ELSEWHERE, WITHIN
- Open studio, 23.11.2025, 16:00-19:00
- Showcase 24-30.11.2025, 7:00-19:00
- Matca Space for Photography, 48 Ngoc Ha, Ba Đinh, Hanoi
- Free entrance
THIS PROGRAM IS MADE POSSIBLE WITH THE CONNECTIONS THROUGH CULTURE GRANT FROM THE BRITISH COUNCIL
THE OPEN STUDIO TAKES PLACE AS PART OF BIENNALE PHOTO HANOI ‘25
Roots & Worlds 2025: Elsewhere, Within is made possible with the Connections Through Culture grant from the British Council. The Open Studio takes place as part of Biennale Photo Hanoi ‘25.
The Open Studio proudly presents six participants, young photographers from different regions across Vietnam, together with the works developed during Roots & Worlds 2025. Six photographers selected through an open call received financial support and artistic mentorship to work on their proposed projects from September to November 2025.
Now in its second iteration, the alternative school for photography returns with the theme Elsewhere, Within. It is co-designed and led by Eugénie Shinkle (University of Westminster, UK) alongside Hà Đào and Linh Phạm (Matca, Vietnam). Roots & Worlds seeks to create an open space for Vietnamese photographers to cultivate their personal voices, using photography as a tool to observe and make sense of their surroundings, and ultimately to situate themselves within the complexity of contemporary life.
The program takes place both online and in person. It begins with a series of online lectures, group discussions, and individual tutorials, followed by a 4-day gathering in Hanoi to collectively edit and present the works.
The Open Studio marks the conclusion of their journey, introducing to the public their discoveries and approaches to a range of topics: the loss of innocence beneath the pressures imposed by school and society; collective identity within public space; the “ritual” of street portraiture and the making of the muse; the sacred within urban life; family history and intergenerational memory; and the transitional space between adolescence and adulthood.
THE PARTICIPANTS
Phan Uyển Nhi is a photographer from Da Nang, now living and studying in Hanoi. For her, photography is a way to observe the world and better understand herself, her family, and her roots.
Inspired by her grandparents’ migration from the North to Central Vietnam after the war, and her own reverse journey to Hanoi, the project explores the quiet inheritances passed across generations. Through staged photographs, archival materials, and everyday images, it reflects on a family history shaped by endurance, tenderness, longing, and the emotional legacy she carries within.
Having lived away from home since the age of thirteen, between the ruptures of inherited values from a small-town childhood and the solitude of city life, Nguyễn Khánh Hoà searches for connections between memory and the present, between the self and its origins, via images and words.
By observing the material forms of and human presence around sacred objects, whether discarded, collected, or entering new afterlives, she traces the intricate weave of cultural and personal beliefs in urban space.
Nguyễn Thanh Hương has a background in fashion and commercial photography. In her personal work, she often blends softness with humor to reflect on the human experience.
Her project examines the seasonal “autumn ritual” of portraiture in Hanoi, where the street becomes a stage and the “muse” a collectively rehearsed aesthetic, further reinforced and circulated through social media. Focusing on moments before the final image: waiting, arranging, and posing, it reveals the deliberate and sometimes awkward process that underlies the seemingly effortless performance of femininity.
Bùi Thị Hoàng Yến is a self-taught artist based in Saigon. Having grown up under societal norms and familial expectations, she turned to art as a sanctuary: a way to resist conformity and reclaim an inner voice that was nearly silenced.
Her project “Vô cùng thương nhớ” (In Loving Memory) traces the loss of innocence as a child’s sense of self buckles under pressure to mold themself into the “good child, good student” model.
Born and raised in Hanoi, Nguyễn Ngọc Phước Vũ began practicing photography in his early high school years. He was drawn to documenting everyday life with his camera or simply with the phone he carried everywhere.
This project marks his own transition from adolescence to adulthood. By revisiting old photographs and keepsakes and placing them into new contexts, while also turning the lens toward himself, Vũ treats the act of looking back as a form of self-exploration: a way to uncover what remains unresolved and to tend to parts of his identity still in the process of healing.
Đinh Hằng Giang, based in Hanoi, is a student with a background in biology and engineering. While her studies taught her how the world functions, she came to photography as a way to inhabit it. Her work focuses on people and the spaces they share.
Her series observes how collective identity takes shape within shared public space, particularly in Thành Công Park (Indira Gandhi Park), a place she has known since childhood. In the park, diverse groups coexist, each expressing themselves through clothing, hairstyles, and accessories, a kind of “social skin” that signals belonging. The project reflects on how these everyday expressions negotiate identity, community, and visibility in an ever-changing urban landscape.
THE MENTORING TEAM
- Eugénie Shinkle (University of Westminster, UK)
- Hà Đào & Linh Phạm (Matca, Vietnam)
PROGRAM ASSISTANT
- Vũ Khôi Nguyên
ABOUT ROOTS & WORLDS
Roots & Worlds is an alternative photography school that combines theory and practice in an intensive three-month program. Through an open call, six emerging Vietnamese photographers will be selected to participate, receiving a production fee and artistic support to develop their projects. It aims to create a space where participants can engage with important ideas and approaches in contemporary photography, while participating in hands-on exercises from conceptualization to production, editing, and presentation.
Roots & Worlds is co-led by Matca, an independent, photographer-run initiative dedicated to opening conversations around photography in Vietnam, with an international partner in photography education. The inaugural edition in 2023 was co-developed by Matca and IC Visual Lab (UK) with the theme Ecological Encounters and supported by the British Council.
