French-Vietnamese Photographer Tells Stories about Life along Mekong River

À hauteur d’ hommes (Life stories on Mekong River banks) runs at the central city of Da Nang’s Fine Arts Museum from April 3 to 15.

It is opened at 5pm at the museum on April 3. Source: vhtt.danang.gov.vn

The Da Nang Fine Arts Museum, in collaboration with the French Embassy and the French Institute in the central city of Da Nang, opened a photo exhibition featuring the life of people living and earning livelihoods in the Mekong River area.

The exhibition is among the activities in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Vietnam-France diplomatic ties, and the 10th anniversary of the bilateral strategic partnership.

An exhibition of 28 images depicting a photographer’s 4,200km journey along the Mekong River goes on display in Da Nang. Source: Tien Phong newspaper

Visitors to the photo exhibition. Source: Tien Phong newspaper

On display are 28 photos by photographer Lam Duc Hien, a French Vietnamese who was born and grew up along the banks of the Mekong River in Laos.

Deputy Director of the Da Nang Fine Arts Museum Nguyen Thi Trinh said that photographer Lam Duc Hien conducted a journey of about 4,200 km along the Mekong River, from the busy tropical downstream to the upstream of Tibet covered by snow all year round. This cross-continental trip has a special meaning to Hien - a French Vietnamese photographer who was born and raised on the banks of the Mekong River in Laos, which he calls the Mother River.

Since childhood, Hien, born in 1966, has developed a close attachment to the river. He travelled from the source in Tibet taking pictures documenting the life stories among communities living on both sides of the river.

The collection features portraits and personal memories of people he met on the journey. The river marks as borders of territories and cultural links of lands and people.

“These works give me a feeling of intimacy and closeness. Thereby, I can better understand the culture and life of the people in the place where the Mekong River flows," Tran Thi Thi, a student at Da Nang University of Education told Tien Phong newspaper's reporter.

Visitors to the photo exhibition. Source: Tien Phong newspaper

Vô đề No 18 (self-perpetuating), an image from the collection by French-Vietnamese photographer Lam Duc Hien. Photo courtesy of Lam Duc Hien

Hien, who is a member of Agence VU (Agency of photographers found in 1986), had photographed conflicts and incidents in Romania, Russia, Bosnia, Chechnya, Rwanda, South Sudan and Iraq.

Throughout his career, Hien has won numerous awards, including the Leica Prize, the Great European Award of the city of Vevey, and the World Press Photo, among others.

Wandering everywhere, but Lam Duc Hien insists that Vietnam is his heart. In particular, when he returned, he was able to eat dishes that reminded him of his childhood days. He could not drink alcohol, but he loved the sticky rice dishes his grandmother used to make. Every time he went to Hanoi, his friends would take him to eat sticky rice, which reminded him of his grandmother.

Through the photos, Lam Duc Hien also wants to mention the problem of water pollution or overfishing that threatens the ecological balance of the river in all four countries. Growing up during the war, he devoted himself to humanitarian perspectives, children's rights and environmental issues.

The photographer will take part in an exchange with visitors at 4pm on April 14.

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