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Veiled Families: A Legacy of Love and Silence
14 Jul
Summary
- A photographic series captures Japanese-Vietnamese families' hidden histories.
- Veils symbolize matrimony and silence for families born from wartime unions.
- The project highlights social hardships and fathers' lifelong absence.
Photographer Phan Quang's "Re/cover" series illuminates the profound stories of families formed during Japan's occupation of Vietnam. These unions between Japanese soldiers and Vietnamese women, often met with prejudice, resulted in children who navigated complex dual identities.
The series utilizes a white veil as a central motif, symbolizing both matrimony and the silence surrounding these relationships. Subjects, like the siblings photographed in 2014, represent generations grappling with social hardships and the lifelong absence of their fathers.
Phan Quang's decade-long project aimed to find and document families born from consensual love, whose experiences were largely overlooked. He encountered challenges in gaining trust due to the sensitive nature of the topic, receiving limited responses from official channels.
The veil itself connects Japan and Vietnam, using fabric made in Japan for kimonos, also common in Vietnamese bridal veils. This imagery underscores the interwoven, yet often difficult, historical connections between the two nations.
While Japan has begun to acknowledge these fractured histories, notably with Emperor Akihito meeting descendants in 2017, Phan's wish remains for these individuals to gain full recognition as citizens.
