PhotoGallery

RETURN by Le Thiet Cuong

I prefer a small number, even if it is only one, as the point of departure and return.
I do not like multiple colours. I like black and white.
White: where all colours return.
Black: the first colour before the eyes open.
Creating forms is simple, simple to the minimum, with a few details. Details are just signs, signs
do not always correspond to details. There lies the distance to art. Details are only a minor
part, whereas the empty space between details is significant.
Open space is freedom of space.
Open space is peacefulness – our return destination. Open space excites the imagination.
Memories and experiences of different persons create different images.
A painting is only a "pointing finger" that needs to be ignored. Who can describe the
perceptibility of reality? And so emptiness is not itself but fullness. Perhaps, I previously started
from somewhere which is the point of return.

These pictures were taken by Jenny Do from the mountainous region of northern Vietnam, the place
that inspires so many artists including Tham Poong, Vu Cuong and the photographer herself.

...High in the mountains of Vietnam, far away from the cities, live various ethnic groups who are
collectively referred by the locals as the Dan Toc people. Legend has it that the Vietnamese are
descendants of Lac Long Quan, son of the dragon princess of Dong Dinh lake, and Au Co, a mountain
fairy. Lac Long Quan married Au Co and together they had one hundred children. As dragons thrived
by the seas and rivers, and mountain fairies withered when being away from the highlands, the couple
eventually had to part. Lac Long Quan took half of the children down to the land along the rivers and
by the seas, while Au Co led the other children to the mountains. The settlers in the low lands became
known as the Kinh, and the mountain dwellers became known as the Thuong. The term Dan Toc,
which probably derives from Dan Toc Thieu So (ethnic people), refers to the Thuong.

The Call of the Mountain is a celebration of the Dan Toc’s way of life. They are people who know how
to live in harmony with nature. They live within the most pristine mountain landscape of Southeast
Asia, covered by clouds and fogs, where progress of civilization seems to freeze in time. The splendor
of nature, the harmony of life and the wisdom of the mountain people are the underlying themes of this
exhibition.
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