Catherine Smet
Van Nhi Nguyen
Catherine:
"As i was researching photographic work around power i also concluded that there is this dominating image of a leading man. Standing strong, the point of view from below looking up at him. I think we find each other in trying to explore other and more personal ways to interpret the values.
Do you mind me asking how you are doing working and living in Hanoi and about the uncertainty of going back to Toronto? Hope you're doing okay even though it's hard.
I found the value power in a conversation i had with a friend who is in the image i took. She told me a few stories about times she was verbally abused and even physically attacked by strangers just because of her shaved head. How something so simple as a girl choosing not to have long hair can have such an impact on dimwitted people. Immediately she would be judged by men. We kind of went in the same direction in the sense of women taking control over their bodies. You with your self portrait reclaiming your own body and the girl in my my image also taking control over this one aspect as simple as her hair. The girl in the image didn't see it as a feminist move herself to shave it in the first place. But after all the abuse and perseverance I think she's making a statement every day. If everyone around you keeps telling you that you don't belong but you still keep changing, i think that can be interpreted as a great form of power."
"As i was researching photographic work around power i also concluded that there is this dominating image of a leading man. Standing strong, the point of view from below looking up at him. I think we find each other in trying to explore other and more personal ways to interpret the values.
Do you mind me asking how you are doing working and living in Hanoi and about the uncertainty of going back to Toronto? Hope you're doing okay even though it's hard.
I found the value power in a conversation i had with a friend who is in the image i took. She told me a few stories about times she was verbally abused and even physically attacked by strangers just because of her shaved head. How something so simple as a girl choosing not to have long hair can have such an impact on dimwitted people. Immediately she would be judged by men. We kind of went in the same direction in the sense of women taking control over their bodies. You with your self portrait reclaiming your own body and the girl in my my image also taking control over this one aspect as simple as her hair. The girl in the image didn't see it as a feminist move herself to shave it in the first place. But after all the abuse and perseverance I think she's making a statement every day. If everyone around you keeps telling you that you don't belong but you still keep changing, i think that can be interpreted as a great form of power."
Van:
"i’ve been thinking about how power in photography is usually an overplayed image of a person- usually caucasian, most of the time male, in black and white, dramatic lighting. to break from that i want to talk about the calm and quietness of a countryside pond in the muggy, rainy april weather.
the image (below) of this corner during a cloudy spring day became very important to me after a realization i had in the past weeks. when the uncertainty of my current living situation between Hanoi and going back to Toronto became too real to manage, compounded with the pressure of work and life, i’ve attempted to slow down. looking at the body of water while enjoying each breath with your feet on the ground becomes a radical act in a capitalist world. going against western centric hegemony and ideology, choosing to take things at the pace suitable for you. it’s powerful being able to give yourself a break.
i also have another self portrait i’ve recently taken as a reclamation over my body. i’ve also been thinking about sovereignty women have over their own bodies. it’s often that our identity is shaped around how men view us and even in cases where art is made around having a sense of control/authority over it it’s made in an exclusive, ignorant but masked under the category of “feminism” way. in a way that doesn’t appeal to other feminine identities like transsexual people. for example, work that exhibits the vagina, prominent breasts, cisgendered (.) that exclude the experience of fem identified individuals. feminist artwork or any other work that explore political should never just scratch the surface of just one aspect, rather dive deep and do proper research. in my image i tried my best to communicate to most."
"i’ve been thinking about how power in photography is usually an overplayed image of a person- usually caucasian, most of the time male, in black and white, dramatic lighting. to break from that i want to talk about the calm and quietness of a countryside pond in the muggy, rainy april weather.
the image (below) of this corner during a cloudy spring day became very important to me after a realization i had in the past weeks. when the uncertainty of my current living situation between Hanoi and going back to Toronto became too real to manage, compounded with the pressure of work and life, i’ve attempted to slow down. looking at the body of water while enjoying each breath with your feet on the ground becomes a radical act in a capitalist world. going against western centric hegemony and ideology, choosing to take things at the pace suitable for you. it’s powerful being able to give yourself a break.
i also have another self portrait i’ve recently taken as a reclamation over my body. i’ve also been thinking about sovereignty women have over their own bodies. it’s often that our identity is shaped around how men view us and even in cases where art is made around having a sense of control/authority over it it’s made in an exclusive, ignorant but masked under the category of “feminism” way. in a way that doesn’t appeal to other feminine identities like transsexual people. for example, work that exhibits the vagina, prominent breasts, cisgendered (.) that exclude the experience of fem identified individuals. feminist artwork or any other work that explore political should never just scratch the surface of just one aspect, rather dive deep and do proper research. in my image i tried my best to communicate to most."
Van Nhi Nguyen