Robert Sasarman
Dat Vinh Tran
Robert:
"I was born in Romania in a small town situated in the north part of the country, in Transylvania region (where the vampires come from 😁) where I spend all my childhood before moving to Bucharest (the capital of Romania) where I started my first University degree.
In 2017 I decided to move to Belgium where later I started studying Photography at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp where currently I'm in the 2nd year of the Bachelor programme.
Besides this, I also had the chance to visit Vietnam last year where I spend about one month traveling from Hanoi all the way up to Phu Quoc island by scooter, trains and buses. As being for the first time in Asia, I had an amazing cultural experience with very welcoming and helpful people from which I still keep in touch with some of them. Hopefully one day I could return back because there are still so many places to explore!"
In 2017 I decided to move to Belgium where later I started studying Photography at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp where currently I'm in the 2nd year of the Bachelor programme.
Besides this, I also had the chance to visit Vietnam last year where I spend about one month traveling from Hanoi all the way up to Phu Quoc island by scooter, trains and buses. As being for the first time in Asia, I had an amazing cultural experience with very welcoming and helpful people from which I still keep in touch with some of them. Hopefully one day I could return back because there are still so many places to explore!"
"I do believe that this project will help to develop certain skills and ideas especially giving the circumstances we are living in the last year. In my opinion, having this cultural exchange and knowledges about photography will bring us new concepts and interpretations about different subjects or artistic visions.
Besides this, we already started a project during the previous academic year about the isolation where we had different weekly assignments that we had to do in our home because we were not allowed to be on the streets. It was a good collaboration between the photography students that made us use only the surroundings and what we had in our apartments which made us be creative in a space where you are quite limited, and you need to work with what you find in your own home.
I don't know how the corona situation was in Vietnam, but here in Europe we had really bad times with lockdowns and strict rules which still apply even today. We are still not able to leave the country, be outside after a midnight or see many people. I do hope that this will end soon, that we can all get back to normal, to be more creative, to be able to communicate more and continue our artistic approach without any restrictions."
I don't know how the corona situation was in Vietnam, but here in Europe we had really bad times with lockdowns and strict rules which still apply even today. We are still not able to leave the country, be outside after a midnight or see many people. I do hope that this will end soon, that we can all get back to normal, to be more creative, to be able to communicate more and continue our artistic approach without any restrictions."
"How do you see the importance of family ? Do you have a good relationship with your family ? Do you have any brothers or sisters ?
For me, especially since the start of this pandemic, it's been quite a hard time, not being able to see them only once a year for a week or two. Being away from the family and being restricted from our social life with lockdowns and strict rules took a toll on me a few times, especially when you want to be together with your loved ones in hard times in order to support, or just simply be present. However, I also think it challenged us make use of our time differently, we were restraint from our usual habits of consumption and routine, forcing us to acknowledge the world around us, to take a break from what we thought it's normal. I suddenly found myself using my house as a makeshift studio, using the available surroundings and objects as props etc. and I think that helped with the feeling of being far away from comfort as well.
How was your time in quarantine? was there anything you found out about your surroundings or yourself? Did you find ways to communicate and reach out to people or did you feel the need to close off? How would you see this image of your family and what meaning has this in relationship with them?"
How was your time in quarantine? was there anything you found out about your surroundings or yourself? Did you find ways to communicate and reach out to people or did you feel the need to close off? How would you see this image of your family and what meaning has this in relationship with them?"
"As you previously said, for some people, the relationship with their family can be very different and sometimes there is not enough support and love given to children which could be visible later in years. Myself, I can say I was very lucky to have a strong and friendly relationship with my family. They were always supporting me and trying to give me the best advice in anything I wanted to do and that's why I always considered them my best friends.
When it comes to the rest of the family, we don't really have a good relationship with them anymore because of different 'fights' between my Dad and his brothers right after my grandparents died and they had to divide properties and things that were left. I always saw this as a very sad way to destroy the love and support of the people that will be there for us no matter what.
Besides this, I also have an older brother which is 41 years old but lives in a different city with his wife and kid. Our relationship was always good, but we missed a lot of moments because of the age gap between us and also the fact that he was living in a different area than me, made our relationship be different and a bit colder. At least things have changed, we started seeing each other more often and I am very happy that we're getting all the missed years back.
Another person that was very important in my life is my Grandfather. As a funny fact, yesterday was his birthday and he turned 96 years old! He is a World War II veteran, which fought for Romania during the war and luckily returned home safe. For this assignment I would like to choose him for my image because I grew up with him since I was few years old, he always told me stories about the war and how he walked from Chech Republic to Romania ( about 1500 km ) in the middle of the war and took him about 4 months. He was also the one that took me throughout Romania by train where I think we spend days on our very slowly trains 😅 and because of that, I got the experience of traveling alone and to deal with situations by myself, which made me a stronger person and the person I am today. The image that I want to use is one that I made two months ago, during the Christmas holidays and I am very happy that I got the chance to see him again, especially after more than one year and a half since I've been home, because of Corona situation. He is getting very old now and being the last Grandparent that I have left, I would like to dedicate this image and thoughts to him. Hopefully he will continue to be strong and healthy, and I hope that I can see him again, whenever I will have the chance to go back home and to tell him about this project and about the significance that it had for me!"
Besides this, I also have an older brother which is 41 years old but lives in a different city with his wife and kid. Our relationship was always good, but we missed a lot of moments because of the age gap between us and also the fact that he was living in a different area than me, made our relationship be different and a bit colder. At least things have changed, we started seeing each other more often and I am very happy that we're getting all the missed years back.
Another person that was very important in my life is my Grandfather. As a funny fact, yesterday was his birthday and he turned 96 years old! He is a World War II veteran, which fought for Romania during the war and luckily returned home safe. For this assignment I would like to choose him for my image because I grew up with him since I was few years old, he always told me stories about the war and how he walked from Chech Republic to Romania ( about 1500 km ) in the middle of the war and took him about 4 months. He was also the one that took me throughout Romania by train where I think we spend days on our very slowly trains 😅 and because of that, I got the experience of traveling alone and to deal with situations by myself, which made me a stronger person and the person I am today. The image that I want to use is one that I made two months ago, during the Christmas holidays and I am very happy that I got the chance to see him again, especially after more than one year and a half since I've been home, because of Corona situation. He is getting very old now and being the last Grandparent that I have left, I would like to dedicate this image and thoughts to him. Hopefully he will continue to be strong and healthy, and I hope that I can see him again, whenever I will have the chance to go back home and to tell him about this project and about the significance that it had for me!"
Dat:
"A bit about me, I was born and raised in Saigon. After high school, I choose to study Chemistry major at a university in Saigon, and this is where I started picking up the camera. In 2015, I dropped out and moved to Australia where I did communication degree at Queslands of technology university. I actually graduated last 1 year ago.
"A bit about me, I was born and raised in Saigon. After high school, I choose to study Chemistry major at a university in Saigon, and this is where I started picking up the camera. In 2015, I dropped out and moved to Australia where I did communication degree at Queslands of technology university. I actually graduated last 1 year ago.
I think this will be a great opportunity at least for me to slow down, recap, rethink about value, what was happened and what will happen next. I just came back to Saigon for 12 months, and I guess I was so hustling and overwhelming of everything about me. I think I would learn and explore new things from this project."
"My family (my mom and my sister) will be the last thing that I hope will show up when something happens because they would open the wide arm for me, no matter what. For example, when I was in Australia, It was a tough time for a 19 years old kid like me stay far away from home, and during that time they always gave me all the support that they can. They even flew all the way from Vietnam to attend my graduation in Aus. So yes, the family is really important to me. I know this is not working for anybody but to me family is the one who loves us without condition.
I would say with my big family (included my grandfather, grandmother, aunties, uncle, and cousin) lately the connection between them and I has been fade out because of a lot of reasons as they have their own things, the conflict between them or we have a different point of view which effects on our relationships.
In general, I have a good relationship with my mom and my sister, however, lately, I just realised that I don't spend much time with them. Since I got back from Aus at the end of 2019 until now, I have been focused on chasing what I want such as doing my own project, finding a job and spending time with my partner, most of the time I don't appear at home. Therefore, there are some moments that I disconnect with them.
Fortunately, Vietnam's government control the situation really good, therefore, people still can go out and do things. About my self, during that time I had a chance to do a collaboration with another photographer to produce a zine, and that was an actually productive time for me. After that, I tried to work at two companies, the first job was at a local newspaper as an editorial assistant and the second was at a local fashion brand as a photographer but both did not work out.
I found out that Sai Gon is growing extremely fast, buildings are keep growing non-stop which is badly affected the quality of air in the city. There are days that the city wears a thick "fog" that you even see not things. Thus, I have been taken pictures of the city landscape from my apartment view
As the city is so hustling, that why I found myself has been swirled into that flow, and I really need to slow down to take a deep breath and take look at everything that happened to figure out which path I am gonna take next.
There are relationships that I want to reconnect with again but I have not to figured ways to do that yet because each relationship has a different way to approach. However, right now as my sister is gonna give birth very soon so I would photograph that moment, and I think this is a good start for me to open the conversation with them again.
I don't how about you, but do you ever have a feeling that you know something will be valuable in the future and that is the right thing to do but at the present, you don't have the motivation do push yourself to do that, because you are focus on something else? I guess I am having that feeling right now and I am trying to not treat my emotion anymore and do the right thing.
I am not sure what will exactly the meaning of the picture will be, I guess the time will give me the answer. but I know for sure in the future, the picture would show that the family was there together, we all share that moment together."
I would say with my big family (included my grandfather, grandmother, aunties, uncle, and cousin) lately the connection between them and I has been fade out because of a lot of reasons as they have their own things, the conflict between them or we have a different point of view which effects on our relationships.
In general, I have a good relationship with my mom and my sister, however, lately, I just realised that I don't spend much time with them. Since I got back from Aus at the end of 2019 until now, I have been focused on chasing what I want such as doing my own project, finding a job and spending time with my partner, most of the time I don't appear at home. Therefore, there are some moments that I disconnect with them.
Fortunately, Vietnam's government control the situation really good, therefore, people still can go out and do things. About my self, during that time I had a chance to do a collaboration with another photographer to produce a zine, and that was an actually productive time for me. After that, I tried to work at two companies, the first job was at a local newspaper as an editorial assistant and the second was at a local fashion brand as a photographer but both did not work out.
I found out that Sai Gon is growing extremely fast, buildings are keep growing non-stop which is badly affected the quality of air in the city. There are days that the city wears a thick "fog" that you even see not things. Thus, I have been taken pictures of the city landscape from my apartment view
As the city is so hustling, that why I found myself has been swirled into that flow, and I really need to slow down to take a deep breath and take look at everything that happened to figure out which path I am gonna take next.
There are relationships that I want to reconnect with again but I have not to figured ways to do that yet because each relationship has a different way to approach. However, right now as my sister is gonna give birth very soon so I would photograph that moment, and I think this is a good start for me to open the conversation with them again.
I don't how about you, but do you ever have a feeling that you know something will be valuable in the future and that is the right thing to do but at the present, you don't have the motivation do push yourself to do that, because you are focus on something else? I guess I am having that feeling right now and I am trying to not treat my emotion anymore and do the right thing.
I am not sure what will exactly the meaning of the picture will be, I guess the time will give me the answer. but I know for sure in the future, the picture would show that the family was there together, we all share that moment together."
"That is great to hear from you, thank you for sharing your story.
From what you told me about your grandfather, I can' wait to see his picture tho!
I went to the hospital yesterday and took photos of my mom and my sister. We had a short good time together, we talk about the past and the future. I felt relief and glad that I speed time and share the moment with them."
I went to the hospital yesterday and took photos of my mom and my sister. We had a short good time together, we talk about the past and the future. I felt relief and glad that I speed time and share the moment with them."