About
Karine N'guyen Van Tham - Memory Artist
Textile, sculpture, drawing, landscape
Born in Marseille in 1988 and based in central Brittany, Karine N’guyen Van Tham develops a practice at the intersection of textile, sculpture, drawing and landscape. Her work explores memory as a terrain of exhumation, where matter becomes a site for the resurgence of vanished presences.
Her practice initially developed around the textile object, intimate and family memory, and the capacity of matter to preserve traces of those who are absent and to become a tool for suturing. Textile gradually expanded into monumental and organic forms, where domestic objects and textile materials become bodies, architectures or spaces of memory.
This research, pursued for around a decade, has gradually extended beyond the personal and familial unconscious.
In 2020, an inner territory emerged within her practice. Subsequent historical and anthropological research led her to identify it as 12th-century Mongolia. This territory, which has become an inner foundation, opens her research towards a collective dimension and towards the symbolic and archetypal figures that emerge through the creative process. This evolution, informed in particular by the work of C. G. Jung, now accompanies her work on the memories of slavery.
Drawing, particularly when made with the left hand in an altered state of consciousness, has become one of the tools of this research. Each experience is accompanied by notebooks in which visions, sensations, protocols and elements that emerge during the process are recorded. These archives extend the artistic practice through historical and archaeological research, bringing the images that emerge into dialogue with traces, documents and established knowledge.
A graduate of the DNAT (Diplôme National d’Arts et Techniques) in spatial design from the École Supérieure d’Art et de Design Marseille Méditerranée (ESADMM), and trained in object design, Karine completed her education with a CAP in furniture upholstery. This dual training now informs a practice grounded in the dialogue between artistic research, textile savoir-faire, space and the physical relationship with materials.
In 2017, she received the Ateliers d’Art de France Regional Creation Prize for Brittany, followed in 2024 by the European Young Creation Prize at the contemporary art fair in Strasbourg. In 2026, she received the Gold Medal in the textile section of the Salon des Beaux-Arts. She currently develops her work in France and across Europe.
In 2024, she participated in the 60th Venice Biennale and presented her works at Palazzo Vendramin Grimani as part of the exhibition Per non perdere il filo, curated by Daniela Ferretti. In 2027, she will present a solo exhibition, Témoins — Murmures de flots lointains, at La Grande Poudrière in Port-Louis, Morbihan, as part of a project devoted to the traces and memories of slavery.
AWARDS
2026 - Gold Medal — Textile section, Salon des Beaux-Arts, Orangerie du Sénat, Paris (FR)
2024 - Winner of the European Young Creation Prize, ST-ART / SAAMS, Strasbourg (FR)
2017 - Winner of the Ateliers d’Art de France Regional Prize, Creation category, Brittany Region (FR)
EXHIBITIONS — Selected
Solo exhibitions
2027 - Témoins — Murmures de flots lointains, La Grande Poudrière, Port-Louis, Morbihan (FR) — Upcoming
2026 - Printemps Nomade, Sofitel Paris Le Faubourg, Paris (FR)
2025 - Exhibition of the 2024 European Young Creation Prize winner, ST-ART Contemporary Art Fair, Strasbourg (FR)
2020 - Des mots à la matière, de la matière aux mots, The Fibery – Fiber Art Gallery, Paris (FR)
Two-person exhibitions
2026 - Je sommes plusieurs, Galerie Maxime Lancien, Abbaye de Coat Malouen, Kerpert (FR) — with artist Juliette Zanon
2024 - Per non perdere il filo, 60th Venice Biennale, Palazzo Vendramin Grimani (IT) — with artist Parul Thacker
2023 - Âmes sauvages, Galerie le 6, Morlaix (FR) — with artist Marianne Laës
Group exhibitions
2026 - Salon des Beaux Arts, Orangerie du Sénat, Paris (FR)
2025 - Eclectica: A collector’s eye, Espace Constantin Chariot (ECC), Brussels (BE)
2024 - Paréidolies, aux frontières du réel, Espace Constantin Chariot (ECC), Brussels (BE)
2022 - L’Esprit des forêts, Galerie Horae, Paris (FR)
2021 - Déconfilement, The Fibery – Fiber Art Gallery, Paris (FR)
RESIDENCIES
2026–2027 - Artist residency, Atelier Studio Ler – émaillage sur lave, Saint-Nicolas-du-Pélem, Brittany (FR) — Ongoing
2026 - Artist residency, Témoins — Murmures de flots lointains, La Grande Poudrière, Port-Louis, Morbihan (FR)
2024 - Foreigners Everywhere Residency, Fondazione Dell’Albero d’Oro, Palazzo Vendramin Grimani, Venice (IT)
COLLECTIONS
Fondation Etrillard (FR)
Fondation des Beaux-Arts (FR)
Private collections: Ireland, France, Italy, Switzerland
PRESS — Selected
2026
ARTS in the CITY - 162 ans de rencontres : Le Salon des Beaux-Arts — July 2026
2025
FOMO-VOX - ST-ART : Rencontre Karine N’guyen Van Tham, Prix Jeune Création Européenne
Magazine Lei - Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia
2024
Gazette Drouot - ST-ART : virage réussi
Le Quotidien de l’Art - 5 expositions satellites à ne pas manquer
Il giornale dell’arte - N’guyen Van Tham e Thacker intrecciate a Venezia
Exibart - Alterità e tradizione tessile si intrecciano a Venezia con Karine N’guyen Van Tham e Parul Thacker
Il manifesto - Karine N’guyen Van Tham e Parul Thacker, l’arte di tessere ricordi
Artribune - Karine N’guyen Van Tham / Parul Thacker — Per non perdere il filo
2023
Selvedge Magazine - Rural roots
TALKS & CONVERSATIONS
2026 - Rencontrer et raconter des mémoires indomptées, Galerie le 6, Morlaix (FR)
2025 - L’objet textile entre relique et mémoire vivante, ST-ART, Strasbourg (FR)
2022 - Guest speaker, San Antonio Handweavers Guild, Texas (USA)
PUBLICATIONS & EDITIONS
2026 - Salon des Beaux-Arts, Exhibition catalogue, Paris (FR)
2025 - Mémoires indomptées, Poetry collection, Éditions Les bonnes feuilles, Paris (FR)
2024 - Per non perdere il filo, Catalogue, Fondazione Dell’Albero d’Oro, Venice (IT)
2024 - Biennale Arte 2024: Stranieri Ovunque, Official catalogue, La Biennale di Venezia (IT)
EDUCATION
2011–2012 - CAP in Furniture Upholstery, Marseille (FR)
2009–2011 - Object Design, ESADMM, Marseille (FR)
2008–2009 - DNAT - Diplôme National d’Arts et Techniques, Spatial Design, ESADMM, Marseille (FR)
AFFILIATIONS
Member of Fondation Taylor, Association des artistes, Paris.
Artist member of ADAGP - copyright management and protection.
Karine N'guyen Van Tham dans son atelier en Bretagne - Broderie pour La nonne de tous les chemins.
Karine N'guyen Van Tham
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