Between the waters, Vietnam 2006

„ If we do not know the past, we cannot understand the present and  if not understand the present we can create no better future.“
From: Death in the king‘s castle, Peter Tremayne

The project shows a face of  Vietnam which is stamped by the late results of the Vietnam war. The past determines the future. This reflects the land Vietnam with all his facets. There is no concluded past. There is only a multi-layer present which is composed by the yesterday, today and tomorrow inseparably and as absolute and independent of each other is never to be seen. My pictures should reflect this complexity. In the contrasting teamwork of urban places and portraits of affected persons the „do not forget“ of the results of such a war should be reached, on the one hand, on the other hand the viewer should be sensitised for the application of military or civil environmental poisons especially in view of the still following generations. 72 million litres of dioxin-containing defoliants have sprayed by the Americans during the war. Millions people have become ill by the herbicides, more than 100,000 children were born since the end of the war hindered, 80 percent of the jungle are destroyed. The poison has nested in the food chain like in the hereditary structure. The spiral of the war results has taken only the first bends.

With my trip through Vietnam I found out how the people in spite of the catastrophic results of the war did not quarrel with the past or condemned them. They do not speak about the past. They appear only straightened the present. But without past coping there is no salutary process, and this will influence the future action again. With this project I would like to contribute to the inalienable funereal work. I want to let traumatised people and fascinating country get a chance to speak by the photos.

The inexpressible should become visible.