Exhibition of photo historian

The Ho Chi Minh City Photography Association opened a photo exhibition with the theme "Photographer Minh Loc - A historian with photos", taking place from now until August 21, at the Ho Chi Minh City Photography Association (No. 122, Suong Nguyet Anh Street, Ben Thanh Ward, Ho Chi Minh City).

Attending the opening ceremony of the exhibition was comrade Nguyen Thi Tuyet Minh, Deputy Head of the Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Department of Ho Chi Minh City.

Exhibition visitors

The exhibition displays 99 typical works by photographer Minh Loc, selected from thousands of photos capturing historical moments, fighting spirit and life of soldiers and people across the country during the resistance war against the US to save the country.

NSNA Minh Loc's real name is Nguyen Huu Loc, born in 1937 in Cao Lanh ( Dong Thap ), currently living in Ho Chi Minh City. He was a youth volunteer, reporter for Vietnam News Agency, member of Vietnam Association of Photographic Artists.

In 1955, after regrouping to the North, he attended the first photography class, then worked in Quang Ninh (1962) before going to the battlefields of the Central and Southern regions. From the first days of holding a camera, Minh Loc determined that photography was not only an art but also a mission to preserve history for future generations.

In 2022, he was awarded the State Prize for Literature and Arts with the series of works "Northern Women in the Resistance War Against the US to Save the Country" including 8 photos: "December 18, 1972, the US bombed Hanoi station", "Female self-defense forces ready to fight", "Female self-defense forces of a confectionery factory on duty on the roof of a Hanoi street", "Female self-defense forces Nguyen Thi Hoa, a unit hunting low-flying aircraft, shot down an F4 American aircraft in Quang Binh "...

Photo "Female candy factory self-defense force on duty on the roof of a Hanoi street"

During his time working in Quang Ninh, NSNA Minh Loc traveled to all the mines, mine floors, deep mines, ventured through forests, went down deep mines, and traveled throughout the coal regions of Cam Pha, Hon Gai, and Uong Bi.

From there, he recorded authentic images of the life and working and fighting spirit of miners amidst bombs and bullets. Many of his photos of female workers’ smiles, drops of sweat on miners’ faces, or scenes of hospitals and ambulances under rain of bombs… have become valuable historical documents.

Thanks to that dedication, he won many international photography awards, including the Grand Prize in Switzerland, the Soviet Union, the Silver Medal in Iraq, the Grand Prize “Red Crescent” and the Gold Medal in Russia.

Militia hunt low-flying aircraft in Quang Binh

More than 50 years ago, during the 12-day and night campaign at the end of December 1972, NSNA Minh Loc recorded in photos the resilient fighting moments of the army and people of Hanoi, Hai Phong and other northern localities. From female self-defense forces on the rooftops of Hanoi, to the units that shot down American F-4s in Quang Binh, all exuded the desire for peace and national unification.

His photographic history continued in the spring of the nation's great victory, when artist Minh Loc was present at the rally, parade, and victory parade at the Independence Palace (May 15, 1975) with more than 55,000 people attending. The photo series he took that day captured the images of Party and State leaders, artists and people of Saigon - Gia Dinh City joyfully welcoming the country's reunification. This photo series was later used in the photo book "Ho Chi Minh City - 50 years of proud heroic epic".

The exhibition “Photographer Minh Loc - A Photographic Historian” is not only an opportunity to look back on the creative career of a photographer who has devoted his life to every page of the country's history, but also a tribute to a historical witness who used his lens to preserve memories for future generations.

LIBRA

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/trien-lam-cua-nguoi-viet-su-bang-anh-post808326.html