Photographer exhibits bold installation on farmers

Photographer Phan Quang’s exhibitionNhat ky nguoi nong dan (A farmer’s diary) opened last week at Galerie Quynh in Ho Chi Minh City.

The solo show features digital photos and video clips depicting farmers’ challenges, desires and reactions to contemporary situations.
The display, which runs till October 30, is already receiving praise from critics who are lauding Quang’s use of concept photography - that is, shots in which his subjects are deliberately posed and backgrounds are constructed to create surreal, fictive depictions of rural life.
“I’ve never seen a photographer in Vietnam create such installations,” artist Bui Cong Khanh said, adding that Quang’s exhibition provided a vital new perspective that explores daring themes.
Photography in Vietnam continues to be thought of as mainly a spontaneous, documentary art.
Curator Viet Le said: “Phan Quang’s depiction of farmers is not something that people can commonly see [at other farmer-hemed exhibitions];” Quang is a farmer himself and now lives here in HCMC.
Quang, 34, grew up on a farm in the central province of Binh Dinh and has had two solo exhibitions so far. The artist has also participated in events like the Month of Images at IDECAF in HCMC, and the Mekong River Project, organized by Stone & Water Supplemental Art Space in South Korea.