“Whoever wants to read the future must leaf through the past.” Jochen Voigt wanted to share this sentiment with visitors when he launched the photo-exhibition called ‘Bridge between times’ on Sunday.
Vietnam through German’s eyes
By Kinh Luan in HCMC
Jochen Voigt (2nd, R) presents some of his photos to An Dung, a photo-artist who is a photo-journalist of the Sai Gon Giai Phong newspaper, at the exhibition - Photo: Kinh Luan “Whoever wants to read the future must leaf through the past.” Jochen Voigt wanted to share this sentiment with visitors when he launched the photo-exhibition called ‘Bridge between times’ on Sunday.
Having worked in Danang and Hoi An as a young photographer during the war (1967-1968), this 60-year-old German author and film maker returned to Vietnam for the first time in 2003 with a Leica camera and “encountered a peaceful country with self-confident people who had kept their most important character trait, kindness, as their post war country underwent change and moved between the traditional and modern,” said Voigt. Since 2003, Voigt has visited Vietnam every year to re-discover the country.
Voigt finally got to know parts of the country which were previously inaccessible to him due to the war. He took photographs of the people he encountered in the same style he used during the war. Similar situations and the charming characteristics of the Vietnamese people were captured by Voigt as a demonstration of the bridge between the times.
The exhibition is on at the HCMC Exhibition Center, 92 Le Thanh Ton Street, District 1, until November 8.