AVA
is honored and pleased to provide ten unique pieces
from our
exclusive AVA Collector Edition created by artist
Binh
Danh for contributions at our Angel Membership
level.
Each framed piece measures 8 x 10 inches and is
signed by
the artist. Example
of a Binh Danh Collector Edition piece.
If you have any questions or are interested in
these pieces,
please email AVA's chair directly at maibui@vietarts.org.
Artist's
Inspiration
Over
this past summer, my mother and I visited a little
abandoned
island off the coast of Malaysia called Pula
Bidong, the site
of a Vietnamese refugee camp where we lived. We
explored the
island by taking photographs and gathering
ephemeral documents
scattered throughout the deserted buildings. These
documents
included letters, testimonies, and government
records. Some
had worms eating them leaving spiral holes, while
others were
partially buried in the dirt with plants growing
through them.
Since these documents had not been disturbed for a
least a
decade or more, they have been physically
transformed through
decay and exposure to the elements.
Naturally,
if one leaves a water hose on the lawn, in a couple
of days,
one would find a pale color grass where it was
placed. Using
the process of photosynthesis, I have printed some
of these
writings and text onto leaves, suggesting that
these documents
imprinted themselves into the landscape. When
printing on
leaves, I place a negative on top of a live leaf
and place
that in the sun for a period of 3 to 4 weeks.
Through the
depletion of chlorophyll an image is formed. I
believe that
this also naturally occurred on this island with
the arbitrary
placement of the documents on the ground.
These
documents and the landscape of the island share a
common consciousness.
The metaphor I am suggesting is that histories (or
stories)
dissolve into their environments. Sometimes these
histories
are documented and preserved through books and
infrastructures
such as museums. Other times they are still there,
but are
not revealed immediately upon their discovery. Like
the buried
memories of Pula Bidong Island, history sinks
slowly and deeply
into the ground.
~Binh
Danh, May 23, 2004
Binh's Biography
Binh
Danh was born in Vietnam in 1977 before his family
immigrated
to the United States that same year. He received
his BFA in
Photography from San Jose State University and
completed the
prestigious MFA program at Stanford University in
2004.
Danh
has invented a technique for printing found
photographs (digitally
rendered into negatives) onto the surface of leaves
by exploiting
the natural process of photosynthesis. The leaves,
still living,
are pressed between glass plates with the negative
and exposed
to sunlight from a week to several months. Coined
"chlorophyll
prints" by the artist, the fragile works are
encapsulated
and made permanent through casting them in solid
blocks of
resin. By conjoining his process into his
conceptual ideas
so completely, Danh is also able to reference the
history
and technical developments of
photography.
He
says of his work, "Throughout my education, I
have always
been very attracted to Art, History, and Science.
The histories
I search for are the hidden stories embedded in the
landscape
around me. The processes used in my work represent
my interest
in the sciences and photographic
techniques."
Danh's imagery has received considerable notice with exhibitions at the
Oakland Museum of Art, the Triton Museum of Art and SF Camerawork.
His work is included in the permanent collections of Oakland
Museum of California and the University of California, Santa
Cruz's Special Collection. He is in residency at Cite Internationale
Des Arts in Paris from late September 2004 to March 2005.
