A new exhibition at The Bui Gallery in downtown Hanoi has gathered fourphotographers, all with vastly different views and subjects from the capital, toshowcase the underlying mysteries of the city.
Titled Days and Nights,the exhibition gathers photographers Jamie Maxtone-Graham from New York City,Nguyen Na Son from Hanoi, Aaron Joel Santos from New Orleans, and Diego Cortizasfrom Madrid.
For the show, the walls of the gallery have been paintedblack, and black curtains separate the four rooms, giving each individualphotographer a space to curate their own works. Within these “black boxes”,viewers must stop to contemplate the works on their own, with nothing else thereto distract or detract from them.
Maxtone-Graham contributes the largestnumber of images among all of the artists, all taken from his Night Marketseries. The 21 photographs on display offer candid yet composed views oflabourers, sellers and residents within the Long Bien night market. Hisportraits are intense and confrontational, but they are not without a certaintenderness and tranquility.
Na Son, a resident Hanoian, is showing onlyfour photographs at the exhibition, but he says that they show a “profoundunderstanding of the city”.
Na Son toes the line between journalism andfine art. He is a freelance photographer who contributes to the Associated Pressin Vietnam , other newspapers and magazines.
Having lived in Vietnam forthe shortest amount of time among the four photographers, Santos ’s work depictsthe capital’s changing urban landscape through the sometimes romanticised eyesof a person still coming to know the city. Working in total black and white, hisimages show a city rushing headlong into the future while desperately trying toretain a large part of its history. The images feel at once lonely and desolate,but also filled with hints of hope and joy.
Santos ’s photographs havebeen shown in numerous international publications, as well as in galleries inthe US , Malaysia and Vietnam .
Cortizas, by contrast, show a secondarycity through a series of reflective surfaces. He chooses the most symbolicplaces in Hanoi , like the Opera House, Saint Joseph ’s Cathedral and Long BienBridge . All of his works are on display ad triptychs, placed in shuttered blackboxes. When the shutters are opened, a skewed and reflective panorama of thecity emerges.
Cortizas lives in Hanoi with his wife and three children,and also works as a fashion designer. The exhibition will run at The BuiGallergy, at No. 23 Ngo Van So Street, Hanoi , until next Thursday./.
Titled Days and Nights,the exhibition gathers photographers Jamie Maxtone-Graham from New York City,Nguyen Na Son from Hanoi, Aaron Joel Santos from New Orleans, and Diego Cortizasfrom Madrid.
For the show, the walls of the gallery have been paintedblack, and black curtains separate the four rooms, giving each individualphotographer a space to curate their own works. Within these “black boxes”,viewers must stop to contemplate the works on their own, with nothing else thereto distract or detract from them.
Maxtone-Graham contributes the largestnumber of images among all of the artists, all taken from his Night Marketseries. The 21 photographs on display offer candid yet composed views oflabourers, sellers and residents within the Long Bien night market. Hisportraits are intense and confrontational, but they are not without a certaintenderness and tranquility.
Na Son, a resident Hanoian, is showing onlyfour photographs at the exhibition, but he says that they show a “profoundunderstanding of the city”.
Na Son toes the line between journalism andfine art. He is a freelance photographer who contributes to the Associated Pressin Vietnam , other newspapers and magazines.
Having lived in Vietnam forthe shortest amount of time among the four photographers, Santos ’s work depictsthe capital’s changing urban landscape through the sometimes romanticised eyesof a person still coming to know the city. Working in total black and white, hisimages show a city rushing headlong into the future while desperately trying toretain a large part of its history. The images feel at once lonely and desolate,but also filled with hints of hope and joy.
Santos ’s photographs havebeen shown in numerous international publications, as well as in galleries inthe US , Malaysia and Vietnam .
Cortizas, by contrast, show a secondarycity through a series of reflective surfaces. He chooses the most symbolicplaces in Hanoi , like the Opera House, Saint Joseph ’s Cathedral and Long BienBridge . All of his works are on display ad triptychs, placed in shuttered blackboxes. When the shutters are opened, a skewed and reflective panorama of thecity emerges.
Cortizas lives in Hanoi with his wife and three children,and also works as a fashion designer. The exhibition will run at The BuiGallergy, at No. 23 Ngo Van So Street, Hanoi , until next Thursday./.
