"In June, 2005 I was in Vietnam for a month as part of an international artists retreat. While I was there I visited The War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, which is a memorial museum for what is referred to in Vietnam as The American War. I was so affected by what I saw at the museum that I went back several times and eventually photographed all of the images and text descriptions from the main museum - over two hundred photos. I used my digital camera and took the shots hand held at off angles to avoid reflections. The images have an oddly casual quality but are still accurate representations of the material depicted at the museum - with a similarly horrifying quality. I decided to print the photographs and exhibit them at various venues around the U.S. as a sort of re-presentation of the material I encountered in Vietnam. The photographs for this show are a selection of about half of all the pictures in the museum's main exhibition hall."
Fletcher, along with the exhibition of the photographs, set-up in the exhibition space, public lectures and discussions by those affected or involved in the Vietnam War from the area where the piece is being displayed.
The re-photographing of an exhibition, in order to display it in a new context, by another artist, allows for it to be shown in a different perspective, something Fletcher encourages us all to do after viewing. He encourages everyone to take in what they see and research it further on their own and form their own opinions about what is seen.
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ReplyDelete"In June, 2005 I was in Vietnam for a month as part of an international artists retreat. While I was there I visited The War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, which is a memorial museum for what is referred to in Vietnam as The American War. I was so affected by what I saw at the museum that I went back several times and eventually photographed all of the images and text descriptions from the main museum - over two hundred photos. I used my digital camera and took the shots hand held at off angles to avoid reflections. The images have an oddly casual quality but are still accurate representations of the material depicted at the museum - with a similarly horrifying quality. I decided to print the photographs and exhibit them at various venues around the U.S. as a sort of re-presentation of the material I encountered in Vietnam. The photographs for this show are a selection of about half of all the pictures in the museum's main exhibition hall."
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Fletcher, along with the exhibition of the photographs, set-up in the exhibition space, public lectures and discussions by those affected or involved in the Vietnam War from the area where the piece is being displayed.
ReplyDeleteThe re-photographing of an exhibition, in order to display it in a new context, by another artist, allows for it to be shown in a different perspective, something Fletcher encourages us all to do after viewing. He encourages everyone to take in what they see and research it further on their own and form their own opinions about what is seen.
http://www.harrellfletcher.com/index3b.html
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