Two of the most poignant topics in art will be featured in a group exhibition in San Art (Art Exchange) in Ho Chi Minh City on August 6. 

The show titled Moi Thu Bung Sang (Everything Illuminated) features 18 photographs by nine visual artists who live in Vietnam and the US.

The highlights are six black-and-while photos by Chu Chi Thanh, Doan Cong Tinh and Vo An Khanh, who worked as photo-journalists during the war.

All of the works portray the daily life of Vietnamese people and soldiers during the American War, focusing on their losses and suffering.

In Thanh’s work called Jane Fonda Visits Nam Dinh Textile City in 1972, war is captured brilliantly as the American actress/political activist stands among the rubble of a bombed street in the city.

The work is one of hundreds of photos shot by Thanh, a photojournalist covering military, political and diplomatic events for the Vietnam News Agency from 1967-74.

At the exhibit, Thanh and his peers are joined by their younger colleagues, who bring a fresh perspective to the show.

They include Le Hong Linh, Dao Nguyen Thach Thao, Ngo Dinh Truc, Binh Danh, Hung Tran and American photographer Kevin German.

The Vietnamese-American artists, Binh Danh and Hung Tran, are well-known among local artists.
Organisers said they hoped the show will help the two generations create a new way of recording and presenting the memories of war.