Local women selling dolls in San Miguel de Allende, the photo taken by Nguyễn Việt Thanh.

HÀ NỘI – The people and landscapes of Mexico and Việt Nam are being depicted through a photo exhibition that kicked off on Wednesday in Hà Nội.

With the theme “Mexico-Việt Nam: at the Crossroads of Vision”, the exhibition celebrates the 209th and 74th independence anniversaries of the two countries in September, as well as the friendship and understanding among the countries and its peoples.

The show brings together works by Sergio Camalich, Eunice Chao, Juan Carlos Duran, Hoàng Hải Thịnh, Lưu Việt Hùng and Nguyễn Việt Thanh.

Thanh, who is a photojournalist at Việt Nam News, said before visiting Mexico he only knew about the country through films and literary works.

“Visiting this beautiful country is a dream for all photojournalists,” he said.

“It’s a colourful country where people express strong personalities through their clothes, smiles and lifestyles. From my view, it’s a country where the sun always seems to be so brilliant.

“The Mexican people are always vibrant and passionate like they are when they perform a traditional dance.”

Thanh's works at the exhibition include photos of farmers, local life and workers at a Tequila factory. He was impressed by their friendliness and energy. Despite the long distance, he found many similarities between the countryside and farmers of the two countries.

“Pictures of farmers plowing green fields with radiant smiles will be forever engraved in our minds about Mexico,” he said.

Island in the Sun depicting fields in the north of Việt Nam by photographer Sergio Camalich

Ambassador Sara Valdes said the exhibition was a selection of colour and black-and-white photos of people, heritage and landscapes of times both long gone and recent.

"The exhibit is the result of an intended and perhaps unintended exchange of glances at moments of daily life in both countries, illustrating the shared commonalities of two societies thousands of kilometres away and yet so close," she said.

"The exhibition honours both countries through art, sensitive coincidences and creative synergies."

Curator Pierre Yves Soucy said photography was a living material which relatively precise constraints give form to the gaze that each of them brings to the world.

"So Mexico and Việt Nam appear in the camera lens, materialising the eye and gaze of the photographer, not as spaces and cultures left to the viewer's indifference but rather worlds both distinct and joined, as is suggested by Chao, who proposed photos from both countries in the manner of an unveiling of their convergences," he said.

"Duran immerses us in intimate universes without ever letting the context from which they emerged be passed over in silence."

"The photos offered by Camalich move between places and faces in which we feel a desire to go beyond simple presentation."

Addressing the opening ceremony, Duran said as soon as he started exploring Việt Nam, he fell in love with the country and its people.

"Through my camera I want to share with the world the beauty of this country. With the passing of the years, I have improved my way of seeing the world through my camera and mixing with different cultures around the globe leading me to the way I am now," he said.  

The exhibition will run until October 25 at the Việt Nam Museum of Ethnology, 1 Nguyễn Văn Huyên Street, Hà Nội. VNS