Pao Houa Her


Pao Houa Her is a Hmong-American photographer whose works are primarily centered around the history and lived experiences of the Hmong people. Her's photography consists of greenery and geographic images. She is also a professor at the University of Minnesota and teaches Introduction to Photography.
WWW paohher.comIG paohouaherTHR paohouaher

Early life and education

Her was born in Laos, where she lived until the age of three, at which time her family fled to Minnesota, where she lives today. She remembers vividly the long migration from Laos to camps in Thailand and, finally, on to St. Paul, Minnesota where Her's family settled in 1986. She graduated from Humboldt High School in 2001. As a sophomore, Her became increasingly interested in photography. She learned her art shooting film—she wouldn't start working in a digital format until graduate school. She started at Inver Hills Community College before transferring to the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Her received a bachelor's of fine arts in photography from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2009. In 2012, she received a master's of fine arts in photography from the Yale School of Art in New Haven, Connecticut.

Work

Her combines images that range from her life in Laos that include ancient large stone jars with burial sites to portraits of the elderly. The artist's image backgrounds range from empty studio back drops to plastic flowers. Her often arranges her photographs in groups and series to both suggest and disrupt narrative meaning. She has stated, “I create my own homeland, a place of belonging both real and unreal, an equal product of Hmong history and my imagination.” But her photographs can also stand separately. Either way they all aim to visualize the Hmong-American narrative.

Grants and awards

Solo exhibitions

"Attention"

"Attention" is one of Her's solo exhibitions focusing on Hmong-American veterans who fought in the Vietnam War or known as the Secret War. Hmong-American veterans were left to fight alone during the Vietnam War after the U.S. retreated in 1975, and they ignored the Hmong-American veterans after the war. "Attention" presents ten portraits of Hmong-American veterans in their uniforms and badges that they bought to protests for the recognition they deserve.

Group exhibitions