Between the Silent Eyes with Nhan Tran

Name, age, where are you from, what format do you like using, what are you currently working on if you are? 

My name is Nhan (b.1995). I am a Vietnamese documentary photographer and filmmaker based in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. My works focus on long-term stories that draw attention to social issues in the country. I primarily focus on minority groups and explore human conditions. I am trying to apply a variety of media techniques and am currently working on my first feature documentary film.

What about your surroundings/environments and upbringing interested you? 

I am not particularly outgoing, so I would feel more comfortable interacting with introspective people and finding solace in silence. I'm fascinated by the human experience and how these experiences shape the world around a person. 

When was the first time you met photography? How did you feel when you met it?

I am a self-taught photographer and filmmaker. My major is in Finance. During a few years of university, I took freelance commercial photography work that helped me to support my living. In late 2019, I slowly practiced with documentary photography by working on the long-term photographic project “Between the Silent Eyes” that explores multifaceted issue of Vietnam’s H’mong women in their perpetuated patriarchal norms and offer a deep journey into daily lives and pivotal decision making moments of the H’mong families to reshape the perception of H’mong women roles. 

I am in love with photography and moving pictures. I feel a great privilege to experience diverse moments in life, as if I will never go through them in my life - both excitement, happiness, and struggles - in a way that only photography and filmmaking bring along. 

Tell us about current projects you have been working on (could be any, or just work you have been doing in general). Is this story inspired out of personal reasons, or others? What are you most excited about in these projects? 

Currently I’ve been focusing on making my first feature-length documentary film, which is an extension of “Between the Silent Eyes” photography work. The film is quite personal because one of my main protagonists for the film is my H’mong adopted mother and another has been one of my photography subjects since late 2019. I want to share one sad story, that when one of the H’mong neighbors passed away and the family didn't have a photo to make an altar photo, they were going to ask me if I took a photograph of him and help them print one. Since then, I grew my desire to build the work center around the H’mong community in Ha Giang province of Vietnam to remember the time I spent my youth together with them, to become who I am today, to reshape my own experience and worldview of this life. 

The most exciting part of this project, because I am challenging myself with a new practice, with filmmaking, which is very different from still photography, I feel I am always learning new things day by day.  It is not only about visualizing the stories, it is also about managing a larger scale project and putting people in a team to work together, because filmmaking is a team effort. Another one, in recent years, I’ve been slowly moving my life in the mountains and becoming neighbours with the H’mong community.  I, as a person who belongs to the major population, am welcomed into a minority culture, and they treat me as their family members, which allows me more understanding of their extreme patriarchal society and long-standing culture. From strangers, we accept each other's appearance in our lives - but to be able to be seen this way, the H'mong and I have gone through a lot of misunderstanding, reconciliation, and then understanding.

How did you find your visual literacy? Why are you attracted to certain images more than others? 

To be honest, I am not someone who takes photos daily. I often spend a fixed period to allow myself to photograph, followed by breaks. During these breaks, I look back at my archive. The moment  I find my visual literacy is when my thoughts drift back to encounters and the situation I experienced while capturing those images, when I go back to my archive. I am a fan of slow-paced narratives so I often apply the slow approach to my practice. The images that attract me the most are those that ignite conversations, evoke curiosity, or allow me to immerse myself in thinking.

Imagine meeting someone who is picking up a camera for the first time. What do you tell them?

While it's important to be receptive to learning from others, don't allow judgment and comparison to undermine your curiosity about the world around you.