Binh Danh received his MFA from Stanford University in 2004 and has emerged as an artist of national importance with work that investigates his Vietnamese heritage and our collective memory of war, both in Viet Nam and Cambodia—work that, in his own words, deals with “mortality, memory, history, landscape, justice, evidence, and spirituality.” His technique incorporates his invention of the chlorophyll printing process, in which photographic images appear embedded in leaves through the action of photosynthesis. His newer body of work focuses on the Daguerreotype process.
Binh Danh has been included in important exhibitions at museums across the country, as well as the collections of the Corcoran Art Gallery, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, the deYoung Museum, and the George Eastman House, among many others. He received the 2010 Eureka Fellowship from the Fleishhacker Foundation and is represented by Haines Gallery in San Francisco, CA and Lisa Sette Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ.
What did the Fellowship or Laureate mean to you at the time you received it?
I was truly honored. It was a recognition of my contribution to art in the South Bay. The funding allowed me to continue making a living as an artist.
What do you do now? Has your art evolved or changed?
I am now an Assistant Professor of Photography at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ. My work has evolved and changed. I focus mainly on the daguerreotype process, finding a connection to the land through photographing.
What is one piece of advice you would give to an emerging artist?
Have a day job, but never stop making art.
Briefly, how would you describe the state of the arts locally, as well as national and beyond?
We need more art now.