CENTRAL HIGHLANDS ELEPHANTS (2018)

Elephants have always been my favorite topic and long-time subject during nearly my 2 years living in Đắk Lắk, the capital of Central Highland (2015-2016). The idea about elephants always drives me to return to Đắk Lắk, during a 10-day trip in August 2018, as part of a documentary project for the news agency AFP, about labor exploitation, ivory trade, elephant tail for jewelry. It resulted in the article “Fad for 'lucky' tail hair threatens Vietnam elephants”. The experience granted me a look into the history of taming elephants in Central Highlands, the work of the heroes who care and protect the local herd of elephants.

MEKONG DELTA - RICE - MANGROVES - CLIMATE CHANGE (2011- present)

In 2011, Thanh began his investigation in the Mekong Delta (9 Dragons Delta in Vietnamese) while witnessing Dong Thap farmers’ effort in building a dike to save their rice harvest from the floods. After 5 years, Thanh has recorded the waning floods, the erosion of soil and retrogression from lack of sediment deposits, amidst the mounting pressure of production on this region. Traditional farming has changed, from increasing use of pesticides to experimentation of rice strains or crops that can adapt to salinization and drought.

Unable to adapt, a population of farmers switched to shrimp farming, or sold their lands and moved away to work in industrial complexes. Facing these major socio-economic changes, Thanh planned to develop an in-depth photography project about the Mekong Delta from 2019. Attached below are some samples from the project (2011 - present) and a list of articles that Thanh contributed:

IN SAIGO, A VITAL JOB THAT STINKS TO HIGH HEAVEN

Sewage workers in Ho Chi Minh City risk their health and lives every day, and they want residents to stop trashing.

Every day, sanitation workers from the HCMC Urban Drainage Company take turns to clean the city and unblock the sewers to prevent flooding of city streets. "The shifts last from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., but on stormy days, we start earlier and leave later to ensure that drains aren’t blocked by garbage," said Hoang Ngoc Toan, a sanitation worker on Nguyen Thai Hoc – Tran Hung Dao intersection in District 1.

HCMC, Vietnam's largest city with around 13 million people, discharges 8,300 tons of household waste every day, according to figures released in August last year. The city has few effective solutions to treat or recycle them.

DRUGS ‘SWAMP’ (2015)

I started this series in June 2015, during a field trip to investigate the situation of drugs usage in the commune Ea Wy, district Ea Hleo, a hot zone with regards to social issues of the border area between Dak Lak and Gia Lai, Vietnam. The one-week trip helped me approach a few families of addicts out of 33 addicts (the reported statistics by the commune police but reality is worse). They are mostly the ethnic group Tày, Nùng migrating from North Vietnam to settle. Here, I listen to many ironic stories about the harm of drugs, with young people rehabilitated multiple times and relapse, or the story about a father who has to report his children to send them to prison for rehabilitation. Those stories drive me to use photography as a means to document drug stories in this remote place - in a direct, honest way, different from the sneaky photographs of the addicts under Long Bien bridge, Ha Noi that I used to witness. I wanted to converse with my subjects, to follow them closely and to conceal parts of their faces per request. Since then, I have always hoped to meet them again.

Tragedy of errors: Central Highlands farmers peppered with a debt crisis (2018)

Farmers’ hopes once climbed high on pepper vines in the Central Highlands; today, they are entangled in debt and misery.

Link: https://e.vnexpress.net/news/business/industries/tragedy-of-errors-central-highlands-farmers-peppered-with-a-debt-crisis-3818459.html

DOWN BY THE SEA (2011-2015)

With a coastline of over 3,000km, beaches in Vietnam shouldn’t be just about seafood, cocktail parties and sunbathing.

In the eyes of the Vietnamese the sea is holy, offering food to sustain life but threatening to take it away with a single wave at any moment.

Thanh Nguyen, a VnExpress photographer, spent five years on and offshore in central and southern coastal towns to document all aspects of beach life, and his close-ups depict the complicated relationship locals have with the sea.

COVID-19

Take notes and remember a time. Saigon - Ho Chi Minh city 2021