MADRID — The Vietnamese Embassy in Madrid and Durán Auction House will co-organise a charity auction of photographs by Vietnamese photographer Việt Hà Trần on May 19.

The event will take place on a special commemorative day — the birthday of President Hồ Chí Minh who played a key role in the country’s independence.

The photos put up for the auction are part of the I FEMME art photography project, initiated by Hà and Ukrainian fashion entrepreneur Tetyana Kretova. With the aim of developing and nurturing women’s talent in countries such as Việt Nam, India and Nepal, Hà and Kretova decided to join forces to create the unique project. Driven by their passion to change the world for the better and coupled with a strong interest in art and fashion, the duo hope to change the future of thousands of girls by financing their education. “We have a vision: A vision of modern successful women. We believe success starts with education. But nearly 800 million people in the world are illiterate, two-thirds of which are women and girls,” said Hà.

The artwork she has created for the project, with the symbolic white shirts of the Simplifi brand and stylish regional clothing, will draw a picture of modern, independent, liberal and successful women of the 21st century who are the owners of their destiny while maintaining their cultural identity. The entire net profit from the sales of the artwork and white shirts will be directly donated to the non-profit organisation, Room to Read, which focuses on improving literacy and gender equality in education in Asia and Africa.

Việt Hà Trần is a Hà Nội-born and Madrid-based fine arts photographer known for her emotionally dense and endlessly compelling photographs of women. Her art emphasises fantasy and imagination as a source of aesthetic experience. Instead of taking photographs, she tries to capture women’s emotions, inner dreams, intimacy, poetry and philosophy with her camera.

Her photographs have been published in more than 100 magazines and newspapers around the world, including Vogue Italia, Vogue Talents and Vanity Fair France as well as Việt Nam Television, and were auctioned by Christie’s Hong Kong for charity. She is listed as a global artist by Artprice, the world leader in art market information.— VNS