Binh Dan

Binh Dan's artistic work shows the lasting impact of the Vietnam war in the people and the land. The original photographs that Binh Dan uses in his work showed the effect the war had on people. However Binh Dan's use of leaves and photosynthesis reveals a deeper meaning of what the war meant to the land in Vietnam. The leaves almost seem to echo the photos of the dead in that the land has died along with the people, whether it is in Vietnam or Iraq. The exhibit in Light Works shows Binh Dan's ability to create pieces of art that, as Sontag says in her work The Image World, "through image-making and image-duplicating machines, we can acquire something as information (rather than experience)." Binh Dan shows the impact of the war or genocide in Southeast Asia not only on the people who are photographed but the leaves it is printed on represent the land that has also suffered. Binh Dan's ability to enlighten the viewer to the pain felt by both the people and the land. Binh Dan's work is something that really allows someone to learn something without experiencing it, as Sontag sees the third form of photography to be.