As the recipient of the 2020 Picto Prize for Fashion Photography, Chiron Duong– a Vietnamese artist living in Ho Chi Minh– has become a promising and innovative addition to the world of photography, pushing the boundaries between mediums and revitalizing the creative spirit of fashion photography amidst the global pandemic.

Duong’s photographs exist in a liminal state between fashion photographs, portraiture, fine art, and conceptual art, and they address what it means to live in a modern world infused with struggle, dreams, growth, resilience, and renewal.

OUR NOTES

Chiron Duong is a photographer who, unlike many, has been able to successfully capture what it is to dream, and how those dreams permeate into and reflect out reality.

A relatively new name in the world of photography, Chiron Duong is the recipient of the 2020 Picto Prize for Fashion Photography. The recipient of the prize, provided by our partner for printing and framing, was determined by a jury containing some of the most important names in photography. Among the jury was Sarah Moon, renowned photographer and the jury’s president, as well as fashion photographer Paolo Roversi, Benjamin Lindbergh of Studio Lindbergh, and Sylvie Lécallier, the head of the photographic collection of the Palais Galliera Guillaume. The prize is extremely competitive and prestigious; its recipient not only receives a Leica Q2 camera, an exhibition of their work, and a JCDecaux poster campaign in Paris, but they also receive international acclaim and recognition. After receiving the prize, Chiron Duong has since continued to create inspiring works which form– according to a mantra of his, “Chân không diệu hữu,”– “from nothing to create a magical existence” (Chiron Duong).

Through his distinctive style, usage of color, and the dreamlike quality of his work, Chrion Duong transports us to a world which in its conception both hinges upon Vietnamese tradition and Eastern culture, such as the deep grace and emotion of Ao Dai Vietnamese clothing, as well the way that Eastern and Western cultures interact and communicate. From this endeavour springs thought provoking dream works which underscore universal emotions and the human capacity to survive amidst harsh realities.

Ranging from a look at the “fairy” like world of a pearl (Pearl series) to the romantic and soaring sunset of Asian cultures and artistic traditions (Sunrise), each of Duong’s works center upon a world blurred between dreaming and being awake; they are high and romantic while also being deeply rooted in our reality.

 By blurring his images, Duong allows them to become real, a psychoanalytical endeavour which underscores the importance of dreams, especially in childhood. His works both emphasize the creativity of childhood dreams while contrasting them to the “emptiness” of a dreamless adult world. His works beg the question: how are our dreams in childhood reflected in our adult realities?

Chiron Duong’s photographs are a stunning, dreamlike vision into both the artist’s work– “chapters” in his novel, as he calls them– as well as into the resilience and universality of humanity.

EXHIBITIONS

Chiron Duong, Midnight In The Mangroves, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (2022)

The Next Great Fashion Image Makers, PhotoVogue Festival, BASE Milano, Italy (2022)

International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Accessories Hyères 37, Villa Noailles, Hyères, France (2022)

#CREATECOP27, Art Partner, Virtual Exhibition (2022)

ImageNation Milan, Fondazione Luciana Matalon gallery, Milan, Italy (2022)

Exposition Chine Prix Picto De La Photographie De Mode- Sight Of Wind, Chengdu, China (2021)

ĐỦ Exhibition (Fulfillment), Sun Life Flagship, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam (2022)

"Xon Xao" In Sai Gon, Uom Art Hub, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam (2021)

Sợi Mắc Sợi Mành, Monosketch, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam (2020)

PRESS

PHOTO VOGUE:

https://www.vogue.com/photovogue/photographers/113293

VOGUE:

https://www.vogue.com/article/chiron-duong

https://www.vogue.com/article/photovogue-digital-art-collection-second-drop-voice

https://metalmagazine.eu/en/post/interview/chiron-duong

INTERVIEWS