Vo An Khanh
Vo An Khanh (1936–2023, Vietnam), born in Ninh Quoi, in Bac Lieu Province, is most well-known for his striking black and white photographs of the American-Vietnam War, and their testament to human resilience. During the 1960s and early 1970s, he traveled with a guerrilla unit to document the front line of the Vietnamese resistance against the US in the Ca Mau region. He also managed the Photography Department of the local revolutionary cause and documented events related to frontline music and dance events. Between the years 1962 and 1975, Võ An Khánh staged a photographic exhibition in the exceptionally challenging condition of mangrove forests. His two well-known photographs, Mobile Military Medical Clinic and Extra-curriculum Political Science Class, were included in this traveling show, which he himself developed on the spot using natural light.
Vo An Khanh’s photographs have been included in the exhibition Another Vietnam: Pictures of the War from the Other Side in 2002 (co-organized by the International Centre for Photography, New York) and various other international and local exhibitions and publications, including Is it morning for you yet?, the 58th Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, 2022–2023; Living Pictures: Photography in Southeast Asia, National Gallery Singapore, Singapore, 2022–2023; People, Victory, and Life after the War, Nguyen Art Foundation, HCMC, Vietnam, 2021–2022; Masked Force, San Art, HCMC, Vietnam, 2020; and Time of others, Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia, 2016.
The work is on permanent display at the Khai Sang headquarters, Paragon, HCMC, Vietnam