In Vietnam the landscape still bears traces of the Vietnam War. In REMEMBRANCE (2004-2005) Binh Danh brings this history to the surface with a unique procedure he conceived himself. He literally prints photos of the war on the undergrowth of the former battlefields. The method is derived from the natural process of photosynthesis. Together with the negative, the leaves - still alive - are pressed between two glass plates, then left exposed to the sun for several weeks. These fragile 'chlorophyll prints' are then encased in a block of resin, preserving the memories that are becoming increasingly vague.
Before he was a year old Binh Danh (Vietnam/United States, b. 1977) immigrated from Vietnam to the United States with his family. He studied photography in California. In his work Binh Danh interweaves personal and collective history. |