Beneath a diaphanous white veil, four family members sit together on tan leather chairs, the woman in the center holding a baby in her arms. They gaze pointedly at the viewer, their concealed-yet-visible state a potent metaphor. Now in their 60s, they are the children born from a Japanese soldier and Vietnamese wife in the years that Japan occupied Vietnam during World War II. Like others born from these taboo unions, they have dealt with social hardships and the lifelong absence of their father. Though some troops stayed after the war, many families faced forced separation by the mid-1950s, when soldiers were required to return.

By CNN

Phan Quang, represented by Galerie Bao (Paris), is nominated for the 2026 Discovery Prize, by the Fondation Louis Roederer, at Rencontres d’Arles (France), alongside Souleymane Bachir Diaw, Jordan Beal, Amira Lamti, Mallory Lowe Mpoka, Magali Paulin and Charlotte Yonga. Their projects are curated by guest curator Nadine Hounkpatin and will be exhibited at the next edition of the 2026 Rencontres d’Arles, from 6 July to 4 October 2026.