Dinh Q. Lê
1968–2024
practice
dinh q. lê was born in 1968 in hà tiên, vietnam, near the cambodian border. he fled vietnam by boat in 1978 during the cambodian-vietnamese war and was raised in los angeles. he earned a bfa from uc santa barbara and an mfa in photography and related media from the school of visual arts in new york. in the mid-1990s he returned to ho chi minh city, where he lived and worked until his death. in 2007 he co-founded sàn art in ho chi minh city alongside tiffany chung, tuan andrew nguyen, and phunam thuc ha, an independent artist-led platform offering grassroots support for experimental art and cultural initiatives in vietnam. he was known for his photo-weaving technique, interlacing strips of documentary photographs and hollywood film stills to explore memory, displacement, the vietnam war, and vietnamese identity. his practice spanned photography, video, sculpture, and installation. he died on april 6, 2024, in ho chi minh city, at the age of 56.