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 Hmong may refer to: * Hmong people, an ethnic group living mainly in Southwest China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand * Hmong cuisine * Hmong customs and culture ** Hmong music ** Hmong textile art * Hmong language, a continuum of closely related ton ...

people. Her's photography consists of greenery and geographic images. She is also a professor at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

and teaches Introduction to Photography.

Early life and education

Her's early life started in

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

where she was born up until the age of three, when her family fled to

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, where she spent most of her life. She remembers vividly the long migration from

to camps in Thailand and, finally, on to

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center o ...

where Her's family settled in 1986. 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 Inver Hills Community College is a public community college in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota Inver Grove Heights is a city in Dakota County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 35,801 at the 2020 census. The city was formed on Marc ...

before transferring to the

Minneapolis College of Art and Design The Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) is a private college specializing in the visual arts and located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. MCAD currently enrolls approximately 800 students. MCAD is one of just a few major art schools to offer ...

. Her received a bachelor's of fine arts in photography from the

in 2009. In 2012, she received a master's of fine arts in photography from the

Yale School of Art The Yale School of Art is the art school of Yale University. Founded in 1869 as the first professional fine arts school in the United States, it grants Masters of Fine Arts degrees to students completing a two-year course in graphic design, painti ...

in New Haven, Connecticut.

Work

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.

Grants and awards

* McKnight Visual Artist Fellowship, Minneapolis, 2022 * 3rd Place, Outwin Broochever Protrait Competition, National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC, 2022 *

Light Work Light Work is a photography center in Syracuse, New York. The artist-run nonprofit supports photographers through a community-access digital lab facility, residencies, exhibitions, and publications. History The organization is housed at Syra ...

Artist Residency, Syracuse NY, 2019 * McKnight Visual Artists Fellowship, Minneapolis, 2016 * Jerome Fellowship for Emerging Artists, Jerome Foundation, Minneapolis Minnesota State Arts Board Artists Initiative Grant, 2013 * Alice Kimball Fellowship, Yale University School of Art, New Haven CT, 2012 * Minnesota State Arts Board Artists Initiative Grant, 2009

Solo exhibitions

* Paj quam ntuj / Flowers of the Sky, curated by Victoria Sung,

Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in the United States and, t ...

, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Jul 23, 2022 - Jan 22, 2023) * Emplotment, Or Gallery, Vancouver, Canada (June 2 – July 18, 2020) * After the Fall of Hmong Tebchaw, Catherine G. Murphy Gallery, St. Paul, Minnesota (Nov 2 – December 14, 2019) * My grandfather turned into a tiger, PLATFORM Centre, Winnepeg, Canada (Jan 11 – February 22, 2019) * My grandfather turned into a tiger,

Midway Contemporary Art Midway Contemporary Art is a non-profit arts organization located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Its gallery and research library are located in the Sheridan and Marcy Homes neighborhoods of the city, respectively. Both are free and open to the public ...

, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Feb 10 – April 7, 2018) * My Mother's Flowers, Bockley Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota (June 23 – July 30, 2016) * Attention,

Minneapolis Institute of Art The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the largest art museums in the United State ...

(April 16 – June 7, 2015) * The King's Seven Daughters, The Bindery Projects, St. Paul, Minnesota (March 21–22, 2015) * Focus: Pao Houa Her,

Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum (colloquially MSU Broad), is a contemporary art museum at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. It opened on November 10, 2012. History On June 1, 2007, Michigan State received a $28 millio ...

, East Lansing, Michigan (Jan 30 – June 7, 2015) * 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)

"Attention"

"Attention" is one of Her's solo exhibitions focusing on Hmong-American veterans who fought in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

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. "Attention" presents ten portraits of Hmong-American veterans in their uniforms and badges that they bought to protests for the recognition they deserve.

Group exhibitions

* The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today,

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: *National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra *National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...

, Washington DC (Apr 30, 2022 – Feb 26, 2023) * Home,

Madison Museum of Contemporary Art The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA), formerly known as the Madison Art Center, is an independent, non-profit art museum located in downtown Madison, Wisconsin. MMoCA is dedicated to exhibiting, collecting, and preserving modern and co ...

, Madison, Wisconsin (Jul 30, 2022 – Feb 19, 2023) * Whitney Biennial 2022: Quiet as It’s Kept, curated by David Breslin and Adrienne Edwards,

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...

, New York City (Apr 6 – Sept 5, 2022) * Shifting Perspectives: Landscape Photography from the Collection,

Milwaukee Art Museum The Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) is an art museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its collection contains nearly 25,000 works of art. Location and Visit Located on the lakefront of Lake Michigan, the Milwaukee Art Museum is one of the largest art museu ...

, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Mar 18 – Jul 3, 2022) * Mother, Mason Exhibition,

George Mason University George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was origin ...

, 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) * The Regional,

Contemporary Arts Center The Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) is a contemporary art museum in Cincinnati, Ohio and one of the first contemporary art institutions in the United States. The CAC is a non-collecting museum that focuses on new developments in painting, sculptur ...

, Cincinnati, Ohio (Dec 10, 2021 – Mar 20, 2022) * The Regional,

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art opened in 1994 in Kansas City, Missouri. With a $5 million annual budget and approximately 75,000 visitors each year, it is Missouri's first and largest contemporary museum. Founders The core of the museum's perm ...

, Kansas City, Missouri (Jun 2 – Sept 11, 2021) * Midway Off-Site: Pao Houa Her and Tetsuya Yamada,

at HmongTown Marketplace, St. Paul, Minnesota (Oct 10 – Dec 19, 2020) * 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, Minnesota (Aug 24, 2019 – Jan 19, 2020) * Artist Reflect: Contemporary Views on American War,

, 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) * in(di)visible,

Station Museum of Contemporary Art The Station Museum of Contemporary Art is a private museum owned and run by James and Ann Harithas devoted to contemporary art located in the Third Ward, Houston, Third Ward of Houston, Texas, Houston, Texas, United States. Started in 2001, the mu ...

, Houston, Texas (Feb 3 – April 22, 2018) * 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) * What Remains,

Museum of Contemporary Photography The Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP) was founded in 1976 by Columbia College Chicago as the successor to the Chicago Center for Contemporary Photography. The museum houses a permanent collection as well as the Midwest Photographers Project ...

, Chicago (Jan 26 – March 22, 2015) * The 2014 Jerome Fellowship Exhibition,

(Oct 3 – November 9, 2014) * Swerve and Fracture, Camera Club of New York, New York City (Sept 14 – Nov 2 ,2013) * After the Fall, Garis and Hahn Gallery, New York City (Jan 11 – February 16, 2012) * Group Portrait, Edger Varala Gallery, New York City (Sept 8 – October 14, 2012) * Group Portrait, Ana Tzarev Gallery, New York (June 28 – July 21, 2012) * Yale MFA Thesis, Green Hall Gallery, New Haven CT (May 2012) * Foot in the Door,

(Feb 19 – June 13, 2010) * New Direction in Hmong Arts, Homewood Gallery, Minneapolis (July 2009) * Relative Distance, Center for Independent Artists, Minneapolis (January 2009) * Journey Through The Lense, Hennepin Government Center, Minneapolis (October 2008) * All Things Relative, A4 Gallery, Boston (October 2008) * Remix: Intergenerational Hmong Art Exhibition, Homewood Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota (July 2008)

References

External links

Pao Houa Her
at Bockley Gallery
Interview of Pao Houa Her: "My Mother's Flowers"Homelands Lost, Constructed, Reimagined: An Interview with Pao Houa Her
{{DEFAULTSORT:Her, Pao Houa 1982 births Living people American women artists American people of Hmong descent American photographers 21st-century American women American women photographers