Born and raised in Vietnam, Helen Tran has always been naturally drawn towards creating art as a young girl. Her first watercolour booklet of Disney characters inspired her to paint. She soon later found her passion for the uniqueness of Printmaking. Tran pursued her education in Visual and Creative Arts at Sheridan College, Oakville, Canada and holds a BFA in Printmaking & Publications with a second focus in Photography. She has exhibited her work at the Art Gallery of Mississauga, The Japanese Paper Place, TOAF61 and Visual Arts Mississauga (VAM), Gallery 44 and is currently a resident artist at the Living Arts Centre. Tran is working as an archivist assistant at the Open Studio Contemporary Printmaking Centre in Toronto and an instructor for Linocut Printmaking. Tran is well-versed in many printing techniques; including lithography, relief, silkscreen, and intaglio. Nevertheless, she enjoys working with the versatility of lithography and bookmaking in her spare time. When she is not making prints, she enjoys adventuring outdoors with her 35mm analog film camera, watercolour painting, tapestry and creative writing.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

As a multidisciplinary artist, Tran’s body of work incorporates printmaking methodology with an array of mixed media. She seeks new possibilities in innovative ways to create and present her work ranging from analogue image-making, text art, lithography, and linocut. Tran’s work draws on traditional family ceremonies and funerary rituals that utilize both print media and photography to convey elements of mourning, healing, and ancestral rituals. Tran’s body of work is medium-specific where she experiments and explores materiality in her form of concept, specifically her appreciation for Japanese paper, which further enhances her context of the work.