American expat to exhibit photos of light in southern Vietnam

An exhibit, to run in Ho Chi Minh City from Thursday to the end of October, will showcase the work of an expat American cinematographer-photographer.

The exhibition, called “That Little Distance,” which will open at 6:00 pm tomorrow and run until October 31 at Galerie Quynh (65 De Tham Street, District 1), will feature photos by American photography artist Jamie Maxtone-Graham.

The displayed photos are categorized in two collections: “That Little Distance” and “Still. Life.”

The collections offer Graham’s outlook on a dilapidated factory, where the only source of light comes from a window.

“That Little Distance” includes portraits of nude and half-naked men, women and gay couples, with Graham himself standing or lying naked in the background.

Meanwhile, the “Still. Life.” collection shows images which were created using long exposure, typically 15-25 seconds, in a room illuminated only by natural daylight.

The objects, which are seemingly separated, are placed together in a tenuous and uncertain balance, with each element requiring the support of the other.

Graham has a professional background of over 20 years in commercial and narrative cinematography, according to his website.

As a guild cinematographer in both New York and Los Angeles, his work ranged from both independent flicks and mainstream feature films to episodic television and advertising.

Graham first came to Vietnam in 1990 to shoot the feature documentary “From Hollywood To Hanoi,” by Vietnamese-American director Tiana Alexandra, and returned multiple times in the following decade for other non-fiction and narrative films – among which was the Sundance Film Festival award-winning feature “Three Seasons.”

In 2007-2008, he became a Fulbright Research Fellow, receiving a grant which funded his proposal to photograph contemporary youth culture in Vietnam for a project called “State of Youth.”

He continues to live in Hanoi and has published numerous photography portfolios in the Trans Asia Photography Review, Culturehall, and Photography and Culture, among other publications.

His work has been exhibited in festivals as well as group and solo shows in Hanoi, London (the UK), the Netherlands, Thailand, and France.

One of his portfolios, called “The Long Bien Picture Show,” featured photos of Long Bien Bridge – an icon of Hanoi.

It was part of a larger project which was funded by the British Council – a UK culture organization – in mid-2010.

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