Réhahn: “Photography, at its best, is an exchange of respect”

Réhahn is an award-winning French photographer, based mostly in Vietnam and recognized for his portrait, life-style and impressionist images. His most well-known photograph, The Hidden Smile, was gifted by Nguyen Phu Trong, former Secretary of Vietnam’s Communist Party, to President Emmanuel Macron in celebration of 45 years of diplomatic relations between the 2 nations. Réhahn’s images has gained quite a lot of accolades and his work Best Friends is the most costly {photograph} ever bought in Vietnam.

How I got here to interview Réhahn is a peculiar story. It was early September once I visited Vietnam and met a German-Irish backpacker who would, in probably the most literal sense, change the course of my journey. We met fleetingly and, having travelled by way of the nation in reverse instructions, exchanged recommendation for the subsequent a part of our journeys. On my bus trip the next morning, I used to be stunned to search out that she had slipped a observe into my bag. It defined how, late within the evening, she had considered one closing advice: Réhahn’s Precious Heritage Museum. One memorable go to and two emails later, I discovered myself interviewing the world-famous photographer.

I started by asking Réhahn about The Precious Heritage Project, the namesake of his museum. He described how, like all his works, the mission was one born out of curiosity. He first visited Vietnam in 2007 with the French NGO Les Enfants du Vietnam and, within the north of the nation, met members of the Hmong and Dao ethnic teams. Through additional analysis, he learnt of Vietnam’s 54 ethnic teams in addition to their respective languages, conventional crafts and clothes. Realising that no full cultural report existed, he got down to doc the nation’s range by way of images, giving rise to The Precious Heritage Project. He defined how “it felt natural to include portraits of tribespeople in their formal dress, to give a sense not only of the craftsmanship but also of the people themselves”. We then mentioned his practically decade-long journey pursuing the endeavour.

Cherwell: What was probably the most important problem you confronted throughout your travels to finish the mission?

Réhahn: Many of those journeys had been bodily demanding, involving lengthy drives or hikes on distant mountain roads, unpredictable climate, and language obstacles. But the best problem by far was discovering individuals who nonetheless possessed their conventional clothes. In many instances, the outfits had been buried with the older generations or changed by ready-made clothes from China. I used to be looking particularly for handcrafted textiles that carried the generational data and traditions of every group, and people had been typically troublesome to search out.

Sometimes I’d go to one village the place no conventional clothes remained, solely to find many in one other village belonging to the identical ethnic group. It was by no means about assembly every group merely to verify them off an inventory, it was about discovering probably the most genuine illustration of their cultural heritage.

Another main problem was acquiring permission to enter sure areas the place ethnic teams reside. Just a few communities close to border areas are below authorities regulation, and it took me so long as three years to obtain approval to {photograph} there. The administrative facet of finishing this mission was, in some ways, as demanding because the bodily one.

Cherwell: Each photograph in your Precious Heritage Collection represents one ethnic group. What was your artistic course of like making an attempt to painting heritage by way of images?

Réhahn: It’s inconceivable to seize a whole tradition in a single picture, so I by no means even tried. Instead, I merely tried to characterize the individual in entrance of me in probably the most sincere manner attainable. I hoped that these images might characterize a number of layers (not everything) of the cultures: the character of the tribesperson within the portrait, the craftsmanship of the clothes they wore, the embroidery, beading, and textiles appearing virtually like signatures for many who had created them and the generations earlier than who had handed down the abilities. I by no means imposed route; I let the individual’s dignity and presence lead the picture.

I really feel near early portrait photographers like Nadar, who noticed images not as mechanical copy however as a psychological encounter. He believed that the lens might reveal one thing of the soul, and I believe that is still true at present. My purpose is to create a visible connection that carries emotion, id, and respect throughout time.

Cherwell: You have beforehand talked concerning the thought of “mutual exchange” in portrait images – might you clarify a bit what you imply by this time period and the way it shapes your course of?

Réhahn: For me, each portrait have to be based mostly on stability. The topic offers me their picture, however I give them one thing too, resembling prints, friendship, or in some instances continued help in training, important wants, healthcare and so forth. Many of the individuals I photographed have change into shut pals; some I nonetheless go to yearly. You can’t take a significant portrait in 5 minutes. You have to sit down, drink tea, pay attention, share your story too. Photography, at its greatest, is an alternate of respect. The type of portrait images that’s nearly snapping images of strangers with out talking to them, isn’t my type. I really like studying from others, particularly the elders in these communities, who’ve lived by way of so many historic occasions. That alternate retains the {photograph} alive. It’s an act of sharing.

Cherwell: What do you suppose makes a great photographer? What recommendation would you give to somebody making an attempt to make a profession out of images?

Réhahn: An excellent photographer is, above all, a great observer. It just isn’t about tools and even uncooked expertise; it’s about persistence, empathy, and curiosity. My recommendation could be to discover ways to really see, and to decelerate and spot what others overlook.

It can be necessary to create your individual guidelines and never change into trapped by conference. Stop imitating and begin inventing.

Cherwell: You’ve now lived in Hoi An for over 20 years. Have you learnt a lot Vietnamese since shifting and the way has it formed your interactions?

Réhahn: I converse Vietnamese now, which helps me join with individuals. However, within the ethnic villages, many individuals don’t converse Vietnamese. The languages are completely completely different, so there’s no manner for me to have the ability to talk fluently in every single place.

In the early years, I made a number of errors, a few of them fairly humorous. But that usually helped me to attach with individuals. Language, like images, is about intention. People really feel if you end up making an attempt sincerely they usually have a tendency to satisfy you midway.

Cherwell: In current years, you could have been experimenting with impressionist images, notably by way of your collection Memories of Impressionism. How did your curiosity on this photographic approach come up and in what methods is Impressionism important to you?

Réhahn: After years of portrait and life-style images, I started to really feel the necessity to transcend documentation, particularly after formally finishing The Precious Heritage Project in 2020. I’ve all the time admired painters resembling Monet, Cézanne, Degas, and Renoir for his or her braveness to query how we understand gentle and motion. During the lockdown, I lastly had the time to check them deeply.

That enforced solitude through the pandemic, in some ways, mirrored the voluntary isolation chosen by so many nice artists. Cézanne left Paris to return to Aix-en-Provence, the place he painted alone earlier than the Sainte-Victoire mountain. Van Gogh, within the South, additionally skilled lengthy intervals of solitude that turned the crucible of his work. Monet, on the finish of his life, withdrew to Giverny and located in his backyard an inexhaustible world of motifs and reflections. Like them, I discovered that solitude could be a artistic refuge. My Impressionist images continues the questions these artists started somewhat than imitating their solutions. I’m impressed by the way in which that Degas’ shut cropping, Monet reflections, and Cezanne’s moody color palettes, amongst different issues.

Each picture is an experiment in what {a photograph} can counsel somewhat than what it reveals. I really feel I might spend simply as a few years exploring this type as I did with The Precious Heritage Project, which says a fantastic deal, contemplating I spent greater than a decade researching Vietnam’s ethnic teams.

The analysis into Impressionism is twofold. I spent years learning the philosophies of the motion and even wrote a guide about my discoveries, Impressionism: From Photography to Painting. At the identical time, I’ve been creating my very own strategies, since creating the concept of the ephemeral in {a photograph} is completely completely different from doing so in a portray or sculpture.

Cherwell: Could you inform me a bit concerning the completely different strategies you utilize to attain an impressionist type and the method of creating them? When I visited your gallery in Hoi An, the employees instructed me about using smoke, reflections and wind to create completely different results.

Réhahn: Yes, I exploit pure parts resembling reflections and warmth distortions to melt the picture immediately in-camera. The wind and smoke are a part of it however they really make it tougher. If there’s an excessive amount of wind, for instance, the distortion is just too sturdy. The smoke makes it laborious to breathe and may cover-up the road distortion from the warmth.

In the fitting circumstances, the warmth distortion creates an impact that resembles brushstrokes. It provides a type of three-dimensionality to the photographic floor, which from a distance seems to have the feel of paint. I discover it fascinating how this distortion modifications not solely the way in which we see the picture, but additionally how we understand the very construction of the floor itself. When I {photograph} reflections in water, the impact is barely completely different. The motion of the water nonetheless mimics texture, but it surely creates one thing extra dreamlike, with softened colors and subtle gentle. My thought is to seize a picture that can by no means return, and to discover the results of sunshine on these fleeting moments.

I don’t depend on digital manipulation; I choose to work with likelihood. The course of requires persistence, as a result of the scene exists just for a second earlier than it disappears. I might by no means seize the identical picture twice. That impermanence is exactly what I search, and it aligns carefully with the explorations of the Impressionists.

Perhaps extra importantly, this work pushes again in opposition to a distinct type of temporality, the temporality of the web and digital photographs normally. The majority of photographs are immediately uploaded, shared, favored, after which virtually as immediately forgotten. My purpose is nearly the reverse. I seize a scene that’s fleeting in actual time, one thing that modifications inside a breath, a mirrored image, a gust of wind, then arrest it in {a photograph}. In that stress lies the facility: the scene disappears, the picture stays. It turns into one thing it’s a must to take a look at twice to grasp what’s actual and what’s imagined.

Cherwell: How do you understand the connection between positive artwork and images? Do you suppose there’s rising exploration of this overlap and, in that case, why?

Réhahn: The boundaries between positive artwork and images are dissolving, and I believe that could be a good factor. Both ask the identical questions: how is our imaginative and prescient completely different, and the way can we distinguish ourselves from the flood of smartphone photographs and now AI-generated works? As artists, greater than ever, we should always keep away from constructing partitions between mediums and as an alternative embrace each other as friends exploring the liminal house of creativity.

My Impressionist work exists someplace within the in-between. It is rooted in actuality however reworked by creativeness. I consider extra artists are exploring this overlap as a result of we’re not afraid to blur definitions. Art evolves by testing its limits.

Perhaps that stress, between what’s seen and what’s felt, is the place images begins to change into one thing else. Whether it nonetheless belongs to images or strikes into positive artwork, I’ll go away for others to determine.

Cherwell: Finally, what’s a very powerful lesson images has taught you?

Réhahn: That probably the most satisfying work lies in each connection and the braveness to invent new guidelines. That’s the way you change into not only a photographer, however an artist. Photography has additionally taught me that the story doesn’t finish once I press the shutter. It continues within the eyes of those that look lengthy sufficient to see what I noticed.

Find out extra about Réhahn and his works at www.rehahnphotographer.com