Yen Ha

Yen is an architect, artist and writer. Born in Saigon, she lives in New York City, where she cofounded Front Studio, an architecture firm. Fluent in French and Vietnamese, she holds an architectural degree from Carnegie Mellon University, followed by post-graduate work at L’École d’Architecture in Paris. Her short stories appear in the New Rivers Press American Prize, Waxwing, Crack the Spine and Hypertext. Yen has been awarded residencies by the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, MASS MoCA and L’AiR Arts. Selected works are available through 20x200 and at Goods for the Study in the West Village. Yen is a current artist-inresidence with the Trestle Art Space.

Following the subtle ways in which we define ourselves, Yen’s own multiplicity of identities - immigrant, mother, architect, artist, a minority no matter what world she inhabits, informs her creative process. She draws intricate female portraits that thread the hard edges of manmade objects into the soft uncultivated forms of nature. She is interested in how memory is shaped by time and space and what effect place has on our individual consciousness.