Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba (b. 1968), of mixed Vietnamese and Japanese heritage, was born in Tokyo and educated in the USA. His work has been exhibited at the Mori Art Museum (Tokyo), Museo d’Arte Contemporanea (Rome), Kunsthalle Wien, Smithsonian Freer and Sackler Gallery and in a retrospective at the Manchester Art Gallery, as well as in various biennales around the world. He lives in the USA and works between the USA and Ho Chi Minh City.

Nguyen-Hatsushiba’s multimedia works tackle issues of globalization and internationalization and their inherent socio-cultural changes. His past work has also included references to Vietnam, such as the underwater cyclos in his internationally acclaimed 2001 video, Memorial Project Nha Trang, Vietnam – Towards the Complex – For the Courageous, the Curious, and the Cowards. Filmed off the coast of Vietnam in Nha Trang, the video shows fishermen pulling cyclos under water, symbolising the weight of tradition and Vietnam’s historical past (the cyclo) in the country’s struggling race towards modernization. Elements pointing to the undeniable role of the USA in Vietnam’s historical past and economic present are also evident in his work.