» Long Time No See

An exploration into the “memory and legacy” of the Vietnam-American war, this series sees the photographer and filmmaker collaborate with Vietnamese veterans who were directly affected by Agent Orange (a military chemical) – plus their younger descendants. “We focused on breaking down the rigid divide between subject and author,” he tells It’s Nice That. Achieved by incorporating drawings and paintings created by the teenagers at Làng Hữu Nghị, plus a video collaboration with the veterans – “we worked with them to co-direct dreamlike vignettes that explore their memories and desires, and our personal responses to them.”

Highly emotive and rooted in history, Long Time No See took two years to complete and it’s clear to see why. Many of the images were taken during the workshop, with drawings and photographs in sight of the camera on bedroom walls. “Often these subjects – like the aftermath of a war or small post-industrial American towns – are dealt with in a heavy-handed sort of way,” continues Caleb. “There tends to be an emphasis on suffering, and while that can be effective in bringing about some sort of policy change at times, it often perpetuates feelings of distance or otherness, and diminishes a person’s humanity to some sort of tabloid headline.”

(Text courtesy of It’s Nice That)