The Henry is delighted to welcome An-My Lê as this year’s Monsen Photography Lecture speaker. Lê is renowned for creating images that raise questions about the representations and effects of war, and for leveraging photographic techniques to challenge understandings of what is fictional or historical. Her work Small Wars (Ambush I), (1999–2002) is included in the Henry’s current exhibition, The Time. The Place: Contemporary Art from the Collection.

An-My Lê was born in Saigon, Vietnam, in 1960. Lê fled Vietnam with her family as a teenager in 1975, the final year of the war, eventually settling in the United States as a political refugee. Lê has been the recipient of many awards, including fellowships from the John D. and Catherina T. MacArthur Foundation and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. She has had major exhibitions at the Baltimore Museum of Art; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Henry Art Gallery, Seattle; International Center of Photography Triennial; MOMA P.S.1, Long Island City; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

The annual Monsen Photography Lecture brings key makers and thinkers in photographic practice to the Henry. Named after Dr. Elaine Monsen, the series is designed to futher knowledge about and appreciation for the art of photography.