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Free outdoor display
How are stories communicated – or withheld – across generations?
Farringdon Station
Turnmill Road, London EC1M 6BY
This display is free and can be seen anytime
"Memory is never stable. It moves, it breathes, it mutates depending on the moment we return to it. What interests me is not memory as documentation but memory as a living thing."
– Nhu Xuan Hua
In a new display outside Farringdon Station in London, we're sharing some works from our exhibition Nhu Xuan Hua: Of Walking on Fire.
Using photography to reflect on the fragility of memory and how the past can be reimagined, in a new exhibition at Autograph’s gallery in Shoreditch.
She reworks family photographs to create dreamlike images to trace the gaps and silences in her own family history. Drawing on fashion photography and the symbolism of Vietnamese traditions, Of Walking on Fire muses on how history evolves and blurs across generations.
Nhu Xuan Hua (b.1989) is a French artist and photographer of Vietnamese heritage.
Known for her distinctive visual language, she collaborates with international fashion houses such as Dior, Maison Margiela, Kenzo and Gucci, while contributing to leading publications such as Vogue, Time Magazine and Dazed Beauty. Originally trained in fashion photography, Hua has gradually shifted towards a multidisciplinary and introspective practice that explores memory, identity and displacement.
Hua published her first book, Tropism: Consequences of a Displaced Memory (2022), and has presented solo exhibitions at Huis Marseille (NL) and Fotografie Forum Frankfurt (DE). Her work is held in public collections including Huis Marseille (NL), the JP Morgan Collection and the Centre national des arts plastiques (FR). She lives and works between Paris and London.
Free Exhibition on until 19 September 2026
What is communicated – or withheld – across generations?
Hear from the artist and curator in this audio accompaniment to the exhibition
Listen | 11 min
Artist Nhu Xuan Hua discusses her work exploring family history, memory and communication across generations.
Read interview | 12 min read
Writer Claudia Durastanti considers communication and identity breakdown
Read blog post | 4 min read.png "sample")
Banner image: Nhu Xuan Hua, Madison at the Wedding 2, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Anne-Laure Buffard, France.
Display design, featuring: 1) Nhu Xuan Hua, Little Super in Versailles – Archive from the year '88, 2026. Commissioned by Autograph, London. 2) Nhu Xuan Hua, Untitled – Archive from the year ’71, 2017-2022. Courtesy of the artist and Anne-Laure Buffard, France. 3) Nhu Xuan Hua, Madison at the Wedding 2, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Anne-Laure Buffard, France. 4) Nhu Xuan Hua, Ses geraniums, les siens, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and Anne-Laure Buffard, France.
About the artist: Courtesy Nhu Xuan Hua.
Part of the exhibition: Nhu Xuan Hua, Promise of Spring, 2026. Courtesy of the artist and Anne-Laure Buffard, France. Commissioned by Autograph, London.
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Autograph is a space to see things differently. Since 1988, we have championed photography that explores issues of race, identity, representation, human rights and social justice, sharing how photographs reflect lived experiences and shape our understanding of ourselves and others.
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