A leading figure of Vietnamese performance art since the mid-2000s, Lai Dieu Ha is known for a practice that uses the body as “a material, a living archive.” Her early works — including the landmark performances "Hurt in Here" (2010) and "Flying Up" (2010) — explored physical and psychological endurance with an intensity that shaped the trajectory of experimental art in Vietnam. Over nearly two decades, her practice has evolved toward what she now calls “soft politics”: a mode of performance that emphasizes reflection, empathy, and the conditions for healing rather than confrontation.

Lai’s work spans performance, painting, soft sculpture, archival research, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Her works often extend the afterlife of performance, transforming fleeting gestures into visual narratives that examine memory, trauma, and the symbolic force of the human body. Lai's artistic trajectory has been deeply shaped by projects such as Psyper/Lab (2013–2016), an intensive interdisciplinary research group in which performance, psychodrama therapy, and communal reflection became tools for understanding the self within broader social contexts. She will present a solo exhibition at Galerie Quynh (Ho Chi Minh City) in 2026, currently developing a substantial body of new paintings and archival works.