Photos feature Vietnamese expats in France over decades
Vietnamese people in France are the main characters in 130 photos featured in an exhibition opened on Ho Chi Minh City’s Book Street (Nguyen Van Binh street) on April 6.
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The photos, taken by photographer Le Tan Xuan, give the public a close-up view of the imprints of Vietnam and the late President Ho Chi Minh in France and efforts by the Association of Vietnamese People there to uphold traditional values and strengthen bilateral friendship.
Outstanding photographs include those showing Vietnamese expatriates enjoying Tet (Lunar New Year festival), a celebration of President Ho Chi Minh’s birth anniversary, and a ceremony marking Vietnam’s National Day. |
The country’s diplomatic activities at the Paris Conference (1968 – 1973), the visit by Prime Minister Pham Van Dong to France (April 1977), and other international activities are also captured.
Xuan said he is touched most by a photo of Vietnam’s booth at the L’Humanite newspaper festival in 1969 – the year when President Ho Chi Minh passed away. After learning of his death, an altar to commemorate him was set up at the booth, and many foreign visitors came to pay homage to him.
Also at the 1969 festival, Xuan pictured the booth of Algeria, which also hung a photo of Ho Chi Minh to pay tribute to the leader, he added.
Xuan, born in 1939 in Cambodia, went to France in 1964 to study film and photography. In 1968, he became a member of a union which is now the Association of Vietnamese People in France, and has been taking photos of the organisation’s activities since then.
The photo exhibition, organised by HCM City’s Department of Information and Communications, will last through April 9.
