(petit portrait de Thao ecrit et propose au magazine Asialife - au passage je remercie Midanne pour toutes ses relectures de mes articles en anglais!!!)

Thach Thao

Art Photographer, Ho Chi Minh City

Thach Thao is a Vietnamese a 23-years-old artist currently doing her last year’s graphic studies at Ho Chi Minh city Fine Art University. She is at the same time working as a freelance photographer, designer and illustrator.
Very curious and with a keen sense of experimentation, she has been practicing painting, video art, graphic design and fashion design. She has won several prizes including the First Price of Fashion Design at the Ho Chi Minh City Carnival Festival in 2006 and the British Council’s Idea Prize “Music Road” in 2008.
Although she has been asserting herself in all of these domains with great ease, she is now focusing on art photography, stating that it is really hard for her to grasp the emotions conveyed by a painting, while a photograph may moved her instantly. As Thach Thao says: “Photography is the way you see the world. At first, I want to capture the place where I go, the people I love. Then through a photo, I realize emotions inside things, especially still life”.
Through her lens, everyday life objects or scenes take a new dimension. They grib us to tell us stories or simply to teach us how to watch differently. Deploring her gaps in photography technique – she is a self-made photographer, she confides however that following her feelings is more important than the questions of aperture or speed in photography.

She is part of the group show, called “Everything Illuminated”, currently displayed at San Art, where she presents a series of photographs responding to a work by war photographer Chu Chi Thanh.

More information about Thach Thao’s work on her blog: http://www.thachthaooo.blogspot.com