Kvet Nguyen – Všetko, čo más spája. Príbeh slovenskej vietnamky

#1 min Kvet Nguyen

9. 11. 2025

#49 Talk TogetherBook excerptIdentity

On Language

What defines us? Our first names, surnames, upbringing, education, sexuality, appearance, faith, opinion, and nationality – and many others. Most of all, it is language that has the power to unite or divide, to stir up hatred or evoke empathy.

My name and appearance set me apart from the Slovak majority, but they also pose a challenge. I spent a long time reflecting on how formative the names and terms that somehow label us are, and what role language plays here. The book Medzi Slovákmi (Among Slovaks) by Martin M. Šimečka helped me organise my thoughts. In it, the author openly searches for his identity, and I identified with him. One particular sentence stayed with me: “To be born a foreigner in one's own country is an existential paradox.”¹

  1. ŠIMEČKA, Martin M. (2017): Medzi Slovákmi. N Press (Bratislava), p. 7
  2. ŠIMEČKA, Martin M. (2020): »Zákernosť otázky „Kto si?“«, in: STEFANOVIĆ, Olja Triaška: Bratstvo a jednota. Vysoká škola výtvarných umení (Bratislava), p. 161
  3. FANON, Frantz (2021): Černá kůže, bílé masky. tranzit.cz (Praha)
#49 Talk TogetherBook excerptIdentityMigrationSocietyPhilosophyPoliticalMemory Talk Together

Kvet Nguyen

(Hoa Nguyen Thi) is slovak-vietnamese artist based in Bratislava. Cultural clash of two different realities is the basis for every thinking process and eventually the dominant subject in her works. She completed her master’s degree in photography at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava within she attended interns in Plymouth College of Art in England and the Royal Academy of Art in Netherlands. Her works have been exhibited in slovakian and international context (Soda Gallery, Čepan Gallery, OFF Festival, Nitra Gallery, Karlín Studios in Prague, Galeria Promocyjna, Krakow and at the presentation of photo books in Poznań (2017), and at LIVRE PARIS (2019) in France.  

#49 Talk Together

This issue explores language – its forms, possibilities, and limits. We look at how we communicate in the digital space, how the language of artificial intelligence changes our notions of creativity, and how visual images can replace words. You will discover why language is never neutral and how it shapes identity, creates inequalities, and opens paths to liberation. The issue features a reflection by bell hooks, the artistic practice of Eszter Magyar, projects documenting the Roma community in Brno, and visual essays by Claudia Larcher and Tabor Robak. The magazine presents language as a tool of communication, power, and resistance and invites you to reflect on what it truly means to talk to one another today.

How to Look at the World: Václav Kopecký and Milan Mazúr Open New Exhibitions at Fotograf Zone Gallery

#4 min Fotograf Zone

How to Look at the World: Václav Kopecký and Milan Mazúr Open New Exhibitions at Fotograf Zone Gallery

Fotograf zone ExhibitionVisual Culture

Photography as a guide to understanding today’s world and video art as a form of storytelling with a social dimension — these two approaches will meet on 20 November at Fotograf Zone Gallery in Prague, which will open two new exhibitions at once. In collaboration with Fotograf Contemporary, the gallery will present Whole World Catalog, a solo exhibition by photographer Václav Kopecký. In the second part of the gallery, visitors will see Eva, a new video project by director Milan Mazúr, shown publicly for the very first time.

Kvet Nguyen – Exploring Identity through Photography

#3 min Denisa Tomková, Kvet Nguyen

Kvet Nguyen – Exploring Identity through Photography

#43 CollectingProfileIdentity

How can one seek one's own identity through photography and how can one use the imperial photographic tool in a decolonial way? Through her work, photographer Kvet Nguyen explores the notion of belonging and the diasporic identity of the Slovak-Vietnamese community. The artist examines her family's migration, their integration into the Slovak environment, the concept of belonging and the nature of both collective and individual identity and memory.