Open Reading Room “Points of Relation” at DACC 2026

Points of Relation is an open reading room and discussion space dedicated to artist publications and photobooks created by contemporary photography practitioners in Vietnam over the past three years.

Curated by Lê Nguyên Phương and Mai Nguyên Anh, the programme seeks to bring the public closer to the expanding practice of independent publishing in Vietnam. Through the reading room format, audiences can directly hold, flip through, and experience each book as a complete artwork in itself.

The selected publications explore various facets of contemporary Vietnamese society, from personal memory, family, and homeland to stories of community, labour, urbanisation, and the shifts of everyday life. When placed side by side, these books reveal points of intersection between personal experience and social context, and between individuals who may seem like strangers yet remain connected within a network of relations.

Curator Introductions

Mai Nguyên Anh

Mai Nguyên Anh is a Vietnamese visual artist whose practice combines documentary photography with subjective interpretation to explore personal narratives and social paradoxes.

He began his career as a photojournalist, working for AFP in the Middle East and VnExpress from 2012 to 2015, and received a scholarship from the International Center of Photography in New York in 2015. His work has been published in Financial Times, Bloomberg, and The Guardian.

In 2016, he co-founded Matca, a community-based photography project in Vietnam. In 2018, he received the Open Category award at the Objectifs Documentary Photography Award in Singapore. Since 2021, he has collaborated with PhotoHanoi as a curator.

Lê Nguyên Phương

Lê Nguyên Phương is a photographer, PhD candidate, and artist born in Hanoi and raised in Ho Chi Minh City. His practice explores historical critique, personal and collective memory, and post-documentary approaches.

His work has been exhibited at Photo Hanoi Biennale (Vietnam), Objectifs Centre for Photography and Film (Singapore), Jakarta International Photo Festival (Indonesia), Angkor Photo Festival (Cambodia), Photo Elysée (Switzerland), Fotografie Forum Frankfurt (Germany), the Museum of Australian Photography, and the National Portrait Gallery (Australia).