Discover Top Posts Tagged with #binh danh

LS NEW BOOK

Binh Danh - The Enigma of Belonging

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#LS NEW BOOK #Binh Danh #The Enigma of Belonging

Binh Danh – from the series, “Aura of Botanical Specimen” 2017, photogram on daguerreotype, 8.5 by 6.5 inches / 13.5 by 11.5 inches framed, unique © Binh Danh – Courtesy of the artist and Lisa Sette Gallery

#Binh Danh

Vietnamnese-American artist Binh Danh uses chlorophyll printing to reproduce images of the Vietnam War on tropical plants and grass, imprinting the memories of painful conflict on the very jungle that witnessed it.

Binh Danh collects snapshots, newspaper clippings, letters, and other artefacts of the Vietnam War and Cambodian genocide, and transfers the images to leaves and grasses, using a chlorophyll-printing technique he developed after seeing parts of his lawn change colour when a water hose was left on it for several days. The final leaf-image is then embedded in resin to preserve it. This technique has important symbolic resonance for Danh because the images are not simply printed onto the surface of the leaves, but become part of the structure of their individual cells through photosynthesis, evoking both the transformative horror of war and the Buddhist belief that nothing ever truly dies. It is also significant that the images are imprinted in the leaves by the action of the sun, the source of all life...through these unique photosynthetic portraits, the jungle itself bears witness to the lasting scars of war, and preserves the memory of all those it held in death.

- Profile by Laura A. Guth via Experimental Photography: A Handbook of Techniques by Marco Antonini, Sergio Minniti, Francisco Gomez, Gabriele Lungarella, and Luca Bendandi

#experimental photography #analog photography #chlorophyll printing #binh danh #vietnam

Binh Danh

#Binh Danh

LS NEW BOOK

Binh Danh - The Enigma of Belonging

landscapestories.net

#LS NEW BOOK #Binh Danh #The Enigma of Belonging

LS NEW BOOK

Binh Danh - The Enigma of Belonging

landscapestories.net

#LS NEW BOOK #Binh Danh #The Enigma of Belonging

Binh Danh

#Binh Danh

LS NEW BOOK

Binh Danh - The Enigma of Belonging

landscapestories.net

Binh Danh was born in Vietnam and immigrated to the US in 1979. Early in his career, Danh pioneered a technique of printing images directly onto plant matter, activating the plants’ chlorophyll with sunlight. Using this process, Danh printed images associated with the war in Vietnam onto the leaves of tropical plants and grasses. Of this work, Danh explains, “This process deals with the idea of elemental transmigration: the decomposition and composition of matter into other forms. The images of war are part of the leaves, and live inside and outside of them.” Known for his innovative approach to alternative photographic processes, Binh Danh extends and reconsiders the pursuit of pioneering nineteenth-century photographers. For almost a decade, Danh has traveled across the American West, making daguerreotypes of scenic vistas on silver plates in a mobile darkroom he calls Louis, after Louis Daguerre. Danh imbues this scenery with his distinctly personal perspective—namely, an attempt to negotiate his connection as a Vietnamese American with the landscape and history of the United States. The highly reflective surfaces of Danh’s daguerreotypes literally mirror their surroundings, embracing viewers within the idyllic environs of national sites and landmarks. This inaugural monograph features two volumes in a slipcase, bringing together all three bodies of work and a separate book of essays and memorabilia that serves to contextualize Danh's work.

Binh Danh received his BFA in Photography from San Jose State University, and MFA from Stanford University. He has been the subject of solo exhibitions at institutions including the Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans, LA (2018); Phillips Museum of Art at Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA (2018); Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY (2016); and Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA (2015). Danh’s work is held in a number of permanent institutional collections, including the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA; de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA; Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA; George Eastman Museum, Rochester, NY; and San Jose Museum of Art, CA. He was included in the 18th Biennale of Sydney, Australia (2012), and has completed recent residencies at the Sun Valley Center for the Arts, Hailey, ID (2013); Lesley University, Cambridge, MA (2018), and the For-Site Foundation in Nevada City, CA (2019).

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