American photographer Catherine Karnow has spent over three decades capturing the evolution of Vietnam through her lens, creating intimate portraits that reveal both the profound changes and enduring spirit of the Vietnamese people. Her remarkable body of work, spanning from 1990 to 2015, offers a unique perspective on a nation's transformation during a pivotal period in its modern history.
Karnow's most poignant photograph features a teacher named Tran Thi Diep, captured in 1990 as she sat pensively by the window of the Thong Nhat train. This single image would later create an extraordinary connection that exemplifies the power of photography to bridge time and relationships. In 2010, twenty years after taking the photograph, Karnow received a message on social media from a woman named Thao, who identified the subject as her mother. The two women subsequently met and developed a close friendship, culminating in Karnow's journey from the United States to Vietnam in 2018 to attend Diep's daughter's wedding.
The photographer first arrived in Vietnam in July 1990, when the country was just beginning to open its doors to the outside world. "Vietnam was barely open to the rest of the world; the door had been cracked open only very slightly," Karnow recalled. During this early visit, she documented everyday Vietnamese life with remarkable sensitivity, including a retired music professor in Hanoi who spent his days playing love songs on a one-string guitar, and commuters in Ho Chi Minh City waiting for ferries to cross the Saigon River after work.
Karnow's unique access to Vietnamese society was facilitated by her family background. As the daughter of American historian and journalist Stanley Karnow, author of "Vietnam: A History," a seminal book about the Vietnam War, she had connections that opened doors to significant historical figures. Through her father's introduction, she became the only foreign photographer to document General Vo Nguyen Giap's visit to a forest military base in Dien Bien Phu in 1994, capturing people welcoming the legendary military leader.
Her portfolio includes portraits of other notable Vietnamese figures, including writer Bao Ninh, whom she photographed 35 years ago when he was gaining recognition for his novel "Noi Buon Chien Tranh" (The Sorrow of War). This groundbreaking work shook the literary world with its raw and honest portrayal of the realities and suffering of war. Karnow also captured relatives of Emperor Bao Dai, described as the last members of Vietnam's feudal aristocracy, photographed against the backdrop of their family cemetery in Hue City.
The photographer's work chronicles Vietnam's rapid modernization and social changes over the decades. Her 1994 photograph of two cyclo drivers carrying foreign businessmen was taken during the year President Bill Clinton announced the lifting of the U.S. trade embargo on Vietnam, marking a crucial turning point in Vietnamese-American relations. Other images document the country's infrastructure development, such as her 1990 photograph of people waiting for ferries across the Saigon River, which became obsolete when the Thu Thiem tunnel opened on November 20, 2011, connecting the city center with the suburbs.
Karnow's later work continued to capture the essence of Vietnamese life, including a bride on her wedding day in Da Lat in 2000 and a unique barber shop on a Hanoi sidewalk in 2014. The latter photograph features Bui Pham Quat, who worked as both a barber and sculptor, having created the artistic wall behind his street-side establishment.
Now 65 years old, Catherine Karnow was born in Hong Kong and built her career as a photojournalist for National Geographic. Her extensive documentation of Vietnam has been recognized through multiple exhibitions, including a 2015 show marking her 25 years of work in the country. That same year, she conducted a 13-day photography clinic across Vietnam, visiting Hanoi, Hue, Da Nang, and Hoi An.
Currently, Karnow's work is being showcased in the exhibition "Viet Nam - Mot Dat Nuoc Dang Doi Thay 1990-2015" (Vietnam - Documenting A Changing Country 1990-2015), running from May 21 to December 5 at 45 Trang Tien Street in Hanoi as part of the Photo Hanoi 25 program. The photographer presented two talks on November 22 and 23, and was scheduled to host a photography workshop on November 29, sharing her decades of experience documenting one of Asia's most dynamic societies.
