Exhibitions

‘Full of Surprises’ by Andrea Orejarena & Caleb Stein – Vin Gallery

Vin Gallery

May 07 - Jun 11, 2021

^{Tân and Kiên at Làng Hữu Nghị, archival inkjet print 20” x 30” inches 2019
All images courtesy of Vin Gallery}

Vin Gallery proudly presents ‘Full of Surprises’, a multimedia installation by artist duo Andrea Orejarena & Caleb Stein. Drawing on a two year collaboration with veterans and younger descendants affected by chemical weapons used by the U.S during the Vietnam-America war, this constellation of images blurs the lines between memory and reality, and challenges traditional barriers between subject and author.
The photographs primarily focus on a group of teenagers over a two-year period at Làng Hữu Nghị. These photos were not made as a document or directive, but rather as an intimate choreography between the subjects and the artist duo and, at times, the subjects drew directly on the photographs.

About the Artists

Orejarena & Stein (b. Colombia, 1994 & UK, 1994) are a multi-media artist duo. They were based in Hanoi for two years from 2018-2020. They are now based in New York. Their work uses the intersection of technology, memory and desire to explore American mythologies and narratives as they grapple with their relationship to the country that has become their adopted home.

Their work has been exhibited in a number of international exhibitions including the Palm* Photo Prize at Photo London, Labs New Artists at Red Hook Labs in New York, Photo Vogue Festival at Base Milano, Pole Gallery in Lago di Garda, Italy, Vincom Center for Contemporary Art in Hanoi, Blow-Up Arthouse Film Festival in Chicago, OLA Latin American Film Festival in the Hamptons, NY, Broken Screen Festival in Buenos Aires, and Under the Subway in collaboration with the Museum of the Moving Image in New York.

Awards include the 2018 Gomma Grant, Critical Mass Top 50 in 2019 (with an upcoming 2021 exhibition at Carmel Center for Photographic Art curated by Elizabeth Avedon), a nomination for the 2019 Burn Emerging Photographer Fund, a nomination for the 2020 W. Eugene Smith Grant (jurors include Teju Cole), and a nomination for the 2021 Foam (Fotografie Museum Amsterdam) talent Long List.
Their work has been published in i-D Vice, Dazed, Vogue Italia, LensCulture, It’s Nice That, and Paper Journal Magazine, among other places.

Orejarena & Stein have given artist talks for Sotheby’s Institute of Art, Christie’s Education, International Center of Photography (ICP), and Daisie App. Their critical writing has appeared in catalogues for the Frances Lehman Loeb Museum of Art, New York.

Orejarena & Stein’s, Long Time No See will be published by Jiazazhi Press in the fall of 2021.