Nicole Tran Ba Vang

Nicole Tran Ba Vang (born 1963, Villeneuve-sur-Lot, France, lives and works in Paris) became known for her paradoxical images: she undresses her models… by dressing them in a second skin, a nudity clothing which seems foreign to them. Simultaneously seductive and unsettling, these images disturb our perception of the most immutable thing we have, our skin, which becomes an interchangeable accessory from an ideal wardrobe. “Être ou ne paraître” (Be or appear to be)—this is the pun that Nicole Tran Ba Vang enjoys using to define the issue in her work. Since 2003, she has been creating photographic series extending her thinking on identity. Her chameleon women have embroidered skin. These delicate decorations adorning the walls are extended into their flesh, into which they appear to melt.