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Tran Minh Thai's first solo exhibition, "Walking in the Mist," opened at Gate Gate Gallery as a gateway leading viewers into a realm of both memory and reality, where wounds don't disappear but lurk, flow, and occasionally throb, reminding us of their presence.
The "Walking in the Mist" exhibition space at Gate Gate Gallery.
With a background as an architect, Tran Minh Thai chose ceramics as a space for memory, where layers of material are burned, leaving behind voids, cracks, and traces like the traumas after loss. In his 12 sculptures, installations, and photographs, he incorporates raw, everyday materials such as earth, roots, wood, rope, fabric, and paper, creating surfaces that are both rough and vibrant, both tranquil and chaotic. It is in this contrast that the artist seeks to depict post-traumatic experience, a gray, hazy area where there is no clear boundary between injury and rebirth.
“Not all wounds are visible… They don’t disappear but become a part of the body – like skin, like breath,” Tran Minh Thai shared. “I work with fabric, roots, and earth – materials that are both soft and resilient. Sometimes they cover, protect, sometimes they expose, tear. Each piece is a tense surface between roughness and brilliance, between a chaotic mix of emotions and temporary stillness. All carry within them a form of wound – not repeated, not displayed, but existing.”
This is the first solo exhibition by contemporary ceramic artist Tran Minh Thai.
The journey from concealment to hovering in the gray zone.
Viewed individually, each piece in "Walking in the Mist" is a personal story with different materials and inspirations. But when placed together in the same space, they become an underlying thread, a journey of confronting wounds.
It begins with "Let the grass grow"—a metaphor for concealment. We think that covering up the pain is enough, but it is precisely this concealment that allows the roots to take hold, causing cracks to form within. From this concealment, the journey continues into the "Sanctuary"—where the brokenness is revealed. The three works follow each other like three states of being after a tragedy: broken yet still shining brightly, emptiness from deep within, and finally, rest after all the brokenness and exhaustion.
The work Let the Grass Grow
The heart-shaped plot of land in the artwork "Let the Grass Grow" is displayed in the birdcage area.
After the breakdown, the artist turns over personal memories to search for "Where the roots rest." But the roots are vague, like an empty family tree box – the covering only preserves the surface, while the depth remains empty. From personal roots, the journey expands to collective memory with "The Burial Place" – a work containing the silence of an entire generation, where origins are obscured by dreams of a distant land.
Where the roots rest
Burial of the placenta and umbilical cord
Next, "The Interrupted Chapter" presents a poignant image of suppressed voices and unfulfilled dreams of education. This is no longer a personal wound, but a shared memory of an entire era. And then in "Untitled," the knots of human life emerge – some knots that are permanently untangled, others that spontaneously unravel under the heat of change.
Three works, Chapter of Interruption
The journey concludes with the "Gray Zone"—a space of wandering souls, individuals stripped of their identities, existing only in the fragile whispers of other people's memories. This is also where the audience confronts themselves: when all boundaries melt away, what do we have left to cling to?
The Gray Zone installation
Through this series of works, Tran Minh Thai doesn't create a linear progression "from suffering to healing," but instead guides the viewer through each state: concealment, fracture, ambiguity, interruption, deadlock, and limbo. Like in a mist, there are no clear boundaries. But it is precisely this ambiguity that gives us the opportunity to pause, to realize that pain is not an enemy, but a part of our being, like skin, like breath – and yet we still move forward.
Space guides emotions.
“Walking in the Mist” is the first solo exhibition by artist Tran Minh Thai, finalized after years of planning, when Gate Gate Gallery approached him with his collection and persuaded him to hold an exhibition based on their professional perspective. Despite only being in operation for three years, Gate Gate Gallery has gained the trust of seasoned collectors and art experts and has become a unique exhibition space.
Many experts and artists attended the debut exhibition of artist Tran Minh Thai.
Gate Gate designed the exhibition space for "Walking in the Mist" with a colder tone than usual, like a sealed box opening to another world, reflecting the spirit of sadness – silence, coldness, and emptiness. Neutral lighting, combined with closely spaced flat blocks instead of separate areas, creates a distinctly different feeling from previous exhibitions filled with natural light or vibrant colors. This coldness guides visitors into the exhibition's mental state – a dull gray, quiet, and slightly melancholic area. When visiting alone, even the smallest sounds seem amplified, clearly audible even in the soft footsteps on the floor.
The exhibition space resembles a dull gray box, opening to a cold, still feeling, like stepping through a gray, hazy area.
The bird's nest area is a small but fascinating space where the artist displays their work with an echo effect. When the lighting is adjusted, the heart placed on the glass surface seems to float in space, stimulating the imagination of visitors. “And that’s the role of Gate Gate Gallery – to create experiences for customers and foster creativity in the artist’s exhibition,” shared Chloe, Gallery Manager of Gate Gate.
