This album is a rare archive containing snapshots and instant photos made by M. Barbet on his trip from Marseille (France) to Hanoi (Vietnam formerly Indochina ) in the early 20th century on the steamliner of the company Messageries Maritimes .
Usually at that time, photography practice was made by professional photographers because the process involved heavy and voluminous gears to be setup. The low sensitivity of the film also needed a long exposure time.
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The Saigon’s historic main street goes from the Cathedral to the river. Its name changed three times following Saigon’s history, known as Rue Catinat, then Tu Do (Freedom) and now Dong Khoi (Total Revolution).
Consulates, prestigious companies, wealthy families business set their offices and apartments on that street where to be seen was the must.
213 Dong Khoi St. Block at the corner of Le Thanh Ton St was built in 1930s by Brossard et Mopin,
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The site of Hue was chosen for its particular properties meeting the requirements of geomancy (Feng Shui) for the establishment of the Nguyen dynasty in the early nineteenth century.
Successively , the emperors prepared and built their graves for their last journey into the afterlife.
The vital fluxes still shine through these funeral palaces whose arrangement scrupulously follows the esoteric rules.
On the site of the tomb of the Emperor Minh Mang where the art of the garden and palaces is at its edge,
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This scene is part of the work on the series “Escape” talking about migration.
The theme of the psychological maze is explored through patterns of doors (Thy Nguyen Truong Minh Installation), corridors, rooms, and stairs in old buildings of Saigon.
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“Dream objects” subject has been developed by the Surrealists. The chance meeting of a strange object, a “slipper spoon”, provoked a sense of déja-vu to poet André Breton. That object was analyzed later as an artifact from his dreams.
These portraits done in 20012 is part of a documentary project done with the collaboration of the Fine Arts University of HCMC.
The abandonment and decay for over 30 years have transformed these villas in blockhouses. The interior burned, blackened facade, only their structures remain like the skeletons of dead bodies on a battlefield. The windows are black holes letting ghosts lurking freely when night falls.
