Yatender (b. 1988, Lives and works in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) Yatender chose photography because words weren’t enough. She then chose film because of its limitations and how closely it parallels flawed perception and the caprice of time and memory. The work that sometimes turns out warped or burned captures the strangeness of a moment gone.
Yatender is a reverent observer of bodies, landscapes, and the stories they tell. Imperfection and flux feature prominently in her photographs – her artistic process is a reflex born from the unwillingness to let go of even that which is broken beyond repair. She photographs old friends and some-time lovers, quivering pools and far off trees – she is a documentarian and a fantasist.
In her work, the line between what is presented and what is represented is blurred. She is also equal parts actress, stagehand and voyeur – in many of the self-portraits, she sets the scene, and from stage left, watches herself play the part. The transience of identity and the oscillation of self- perception are for her, best captured through a flickering lens. Yatender’s work is tactile, brusque and darkly humorous. For both viewer and artist, the only choice available is to embrace the unsettling, distorted and off kilter in the endless quest for resolution.
Yatender has exhibited internationally and nationally including 2-1, Vin Gallery, Ho Chi Minh City (2017), The Sheltering Place, Most Gallery, Bangkok (2017), The Artling Pop-up, Helutrans Artmove, Singapore (2017), If You Leave, Red Gallery, London (2016) and an environmental public art project, Free the Ocean, Ly Son Island, Vietnam (2016)
Full name: Ao Kim Ngân ( a.k.a. Yatender )
Born: 1988, Binh Duong, Vietnam
Currently lives and works in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Yatender is a film photographer whose practice props up a ramshackle bridge of shared spaces in time and gives shape to the yearning for something more. The story she writes is a personal one, unfolding candidly from a desire to escape the narrow worldview of circumstance and reach across great distances to touch something real. Her work follows an experimental approach to inquire and attune, by examining a life captured behind the lens.
Education
2006 - 2009 studied graphic design at Dong Nai College of Decorative Arts
Solo Exhibition
August 2017 ‘2-1’ hosted by Vin Gallery, Ho Chi Minh City, Vitenam
April 2017 ‘The Sheltering Place’ hosted by MOST Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand
September 2017 Group Shows and Project ‘The Artling Pop-up’ hosted by Helutrans Artmove, Singapore
June 2017 ‘I, Me, Mine’ hosted by The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre, Ho Chi Minh City, Vitenam
Featured artist in Saigon Artbook 7
December 2016 ‘If You Leave’ showcase hosted by Red Gallery, London
November 2016 ‘Small Things’ exhibition for upcoming international artists, hosted by Vin Gallery, Ho Chi Minh City, Vitenam
July 2016 ‘Free The Ocean’ – public art project related to social and environmental issues on Ly Son island, Vietnam
March 2015 ‘March: Art Walk’ hosted by Sao La, Ho Chi Minh CityVitenam
Group Exhibition
January 2019 "ECOPHYCHOLOGY" at the Objectifs-Centre for Photography and Film, Singapore
Yatender