Thomas Billhardt “Reunion with Vietnam”

“Reunion with Vietnam” is the theme of the photo exhibition by German photographer Thomas Billhardt taking place from the afternoon of May 19 to 26 at Lan Vien Co Tich 2 – Intercultural Meeting Point (Bach Dang Street, Hue City).

This is an activity organized by Goethe Institute Hanoi , Intercultural Meeting Point and Camera Work.

The exhibition introduces more than 50 color and black-and-white photos taken by artist Thomas Billhardt with film cameras in Vietnam during the years 1962 - 1999, including photos that have never been exhibited in Vietnam before. Through that, it brings to viewers emotions and thoughts about war and peace, especially images of bomb shelters during wartime.

In this exhibition, photographer Thomas Billhardt also introduces to viewers some photos of Thien Mu Pagoda and some tombs in Hue.

Photographer Thomas Billhardt was born in 1937 in Chemnitz, Germany. He is recognized as one of the most prominent documentary photographers of the German Democratic Republic and one of the first photojournalists to capture the brutality of the Vietnam War on camera. His photographs were instrumental in showing the world the horrors of the Vietnam War (1965-1975), especially on the faces of the children he photographed.

Thomas Billhardt first came to Hanoi in 1967. During the most fierce years of the war against the US in Vietnam, when bombs and bullets were scattered across the battlefield from North to South, Thomas Billhardt made 7 trips to Vietnam and many more after that. The photos taken during this period were published in many photo magazines such as: “Pilots in Pyjamas” (1968), “Thirst for Peace: Vietnam” (1973), “Hanoi - Days Before Peace” (1973) and “Faces of Vietnam” (1978).

News and photos: MINH HIEN

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