Pao Houa Her (born in 1982) is a Hmong-American photographer whose works are primarily centered around the history and lived experiences of the Hmong people.[1][2] Her's photography consists of greenery and geographic images.[3] She is also a professor at the University of Minnesota and teaches Introduction to Photography.[4]
Her was born in Laos, where she lived until the age of three, at which time her family fled to Minnesota, where she lives today.[5] She remembers vividly the long migration from Laos to camps in Thailand and, finally, on to St. Paul, Minnesota where Her's family settled in 1986.[5] She graduated from Humboldt High School in 2001. As a sophomore, Her became increasingly interested in photography. She learned her art shooting film—she wouldn't start working in a digital format until graduate school. She started at Inver Hills Community College before transferring to the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.[6] Her received a bachelor's of fine arts in photography from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2009. In 2012, she received a master's of fine arts in photography from the Yale School of Art in New Haven, Connecticut.[7]
Work
Hmong-style portrait in traditional dress, the style that Her's portraits draw on
Her combines images that range from her life in Laos that include ancient large stone jars with burial sites to portraits of the elderly. The artist's image backgrounds range from empty studio back drops to plastic flowers. Her often arranges her photographs in groups and series to both suggest and disrupt narrative meaning. She has stated, “I create my own homeland, a place of belonging both real and unreal, an equal product of Hmong history and my imagination.” But her photographs can also stand separately. Either way they all aim to visualize the Hmong-American narrative.[8]
Grants and awards
Guggenheim Fellowship, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, New York, 2023
McKnight Visual Artist Fellowship, Minneapolis, 2022
3rd Place, Outwin Broochever Portrait Competition, National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC, 2022
Desires, Center for Hmong Studies, Minneapolis, Minnesota (March 15 – May 4, 2013)
Pao Houa Her, Franklin Artworks, Minneapolis, Minnesota (March–May 2013)
Somebody, The Gordon Park Gallery, curated by Wing Young Huie, St. Paul, Minnesota (September 2012)[10]
"Attention"
"Attention"[12] is one of Her's solo exhibitions focusing on Hmong-American veterans who fought in the Vietnam War or known as the Secret War. Hmong-American veterans were left to fight alone during the Vietnam War after the U.S. retreated in 1975, and they ignored the Hmong-American veterans after the war.[13][14] "Attention" presents ten portraits of Hmong-American veterans in their uniforms and badges that they bought to protests for the recognition they deserve.[14][13]
Group exhibitions
The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today, National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC (Apr 30, 2022 – Feb 26, 2023)
Whitney Biennial 2022: Quiet as It’s Kept, curated by David Breslin and Adrienne Edwards, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City (Apr 6 – Sept 5, 2022)
Shifting Perspectives: Landscape Photography from the Collection, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Mar 18 – Jul 3, 2022)
Mother, Mason Exhibition, George Mason University, Arlington, Virginia (Apr 1 – May 28, 2022)
Snake whiskey still life and other stories, curated by Todd Bockley, Various Small Fires, Los Angeles (Jan 15 – Feb 19, 2022)
Phantoms and Aliens | The Invisible Other, curated by Loredana Paracciani, Richard Kho Gallery, Singapore (Mar 6 – Mar 28, 2020)
The American War, ARTS at King Street Station, Seattle, Washington (Feb 6 – Mar 21, 2020)
Rethinking Histories: Works from MIA’s Collection, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Aug 24, 2019 – Jan 19, 2020)
Artist Reflect: Contemporary Views on American War, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Sept 29, 2019 – Jan 5, 2020)
Depths, Elevations Laos Biennial, curated by Erin Gleeson, Sin Many, i:cat Gallery, Ban Simeuang, Vientiane, Laos (November 9, 2018 – January 16, 2019)
EXit/ EXile/ EXodus: Voicing the Diaspora in Southeast Asian Contemporary Art, curated by Loredana Pazzini-Paracciani, MAIIAM, Chiang Mai, Thailand (March 4, 2018 – March 3, 2019)
On Attachments and Unknowns, SA SA BASSAC, curated by Erin Gleeson, May Adadol Ingawanij, Ben Valentine, Phnom Penh, Cambodia (May 19 – August 19, 2017)
Reframe Minnesota: Art Beyond a Single Story, All My Relations Gallery, Minneapolis (June 24 – September 16, 2016)
Migration Series No. 1, Telemark Art Center, Skien, Norway (Sept 26 – November 1, 2015)
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