Pao Houa Her: And Other Illusions

Overview

Baxter St is pleased to present And Other Illusions, a solo exhibition featuring acclaimed work by Pao Houa Her, the winner of the 2023 Aperture–Baxter St Next Step Award. As the recipient, Her was awarded the opportunity to expand her photographic practice and mark this significant achievement with a solo exhibition. Following Her’s participation in the Whitney Biennial 2022, And Other Illusions marks her first solo exhibition in New York City. An opening reception will be held Wednesday, February 7 from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

And Other Illusions brings together a selection of new works from various series made between 2016–22, including black and white and color photographs, collage and lenticular works, and a large-scale lightbox. Highlighting six of Her’s major series, both the exhibition and monograph include the title work, And Other Illusions, which draws on oral history to imagine homeland. The portrait series and installation Attention (2015) honors Hmong veterans who unofficially fought for the United States in the Vietnam War, while My Mother’s Flowers (2016) pairs tonally rich black and white still lifes of Her’s mother’s silk flowers with hyper-colored and digitally manipulated portraits of anonymous Hmong women from dating sites. The stark landscapes that comprise the Mount Shasta (2021–22) lightboxes bear witness to the dry volcanic lands of northern California. As they recall the historical entwinement of imaging and settling land, they allude to the region’s Hmong cannabis farmers drawing on ancestral knowledge of highland agriculture.

In addition, the exhibition will be accompanied by the launch of Her’s first ever monograph, My grandfather turned into a tiger … and other illusions, a deeply personal exploration of the fundamental concepts of home and belonging. The book is published by Aperture with generous support by the 7|G Foundation.

Pao Houa Her (born in Laos, 1982) is a Hmong American visual artist based in Blaine, Minnesota. Her is an assistant professor in photography and moving images at the University of Minnesota. She received an MFA from the Yale School of Art in 2012 and is the recipient of the 2023–24 Aperture–Baxter St Next Step Award.

—

Image: Pao Houa Her, Untitled (Brian with fake flowers standing near the burn), 2019; from Pao Houa Her: My grandfather turned into a tiger … and other illusions (Aperture, 2024). © 2024 Pao Houa Her