Thu-Van Tran – Les Couleurs du gris, 2023-2026

Ground minerals, natural pigments and binders form the substance of Thu-Van Tran’s paintings. Prepared by the artist from materials gathered from or extracted from the earth, each layer retains the presence of the geological processes from which it emerged, recalling erosion, sedimentation and the slow accumulation of geological strata. Colour carries the histories embedded within the minerals from which it is made, extending from the earth’s deep time to the political histories of extraction. Tran’s long-running series Les Couleurs du gris (“Colours of Grey”) derives its palette from the Rainbow Herbicides, including Agent Orange, deployed by the American military during the Vietnam War to defoliate forests and destroy crops. For Tran, “the quest for beauty” can be considered “an ethical approach”, allowing painting to remain in contact with histories of violence while continuing to imagine other futures.

Thu-Van Tran’s work examines how histories of displacement and colonialism are inscribed in materials, forms, and systems of representation. Working with photography, drawing, film, painting and sculpture, she brings into relation natural and historical processes, showing how human history is deposited in the layers of the world. The processes of moulding and imprinting become a political gesture, making these traces visible in matter. Her work explores dynamics of contamination, transformation, and inheritance as they remain in constant negotiation.