Vo An Khanh’s Mangrove Theatre: Vietnam Wartime Photography In Paris

A showcase that captured the hidden lives of guerrilla fighters in Vietnam's mangrove forests during the Vietnam-American War.

Kiều Nga

Nov 19

Vo An Khanh’s Mangrove Theatre: Vietnam Wartime Photography In Paris

Võ An Khánh, Untitled, Gelatin silver prints, 20 x 20 inch, Undated, reprinted 2022. Courtesy of Dogma collection.

Vo An Khanh (1936–2023, Vietnam), born in Ninh Quoi, in Bac Lieu Province, is most well-known for his striking black and white photographs of the American-Vietnam War, and their testament to human resilience.

During the 1960s and early 1970s, he traveled with a guerrilla unit to document the front line of the Vietnamese resistance against the US in the Ca Mau region. He also managed the Photography Department of the local revolutionary cause and documented events related to frontline music and dance events.

alt — Vo An Khanh, *Mr. Sau Thu, standing officer of Ca Mau Youth Union, instructing the province’s youth volunteers before they went on duty. Taken in Cong Nghiep hamlet.* Gelatin silver prints, 20 x 20 in, Undated, reprinted 2022. Dogma Collection.

“Mangrove Theatre: The Wartime Photography of Vo An Khanh," is a showcase of documentary work of Vo An Khanh (1936-2023) that captured the hidden lives of guerrilla fighters in Vietnam's mangrove forests during the Vietnam-American War.

This exhibition of fifteen scenes reveals a remarkable oeuvre that blurs the boundaries between art and militancy, documentary and spectacle. With masks frequently appearing as motifs to protect identities and constant scenes of rehearsal and practice, Vo's images transform the forest into a site of surreal, wartime theater.

alt — Vo An Khanh, Leaders of the Ca Mau Provincial Party Committee having dinner during the reception of 2 officials from the Ninh Binh film department, who came to help the Ca Mau committee to establish a movie projector unit, Gelatin silver prints, 20 x 20 in, Undated, reprinted 2022. Courtesy of Dogma collection.

alt — Vo An Khanh, *A song and dance class in the Southwestern region, which had begun in 1970 and lasted more than one year since the students had to simultaneously study and fight the enemy during the war*, Gelatin silver prints, 20 x 20 in, 1970-1971, reprinted 2022. Courtesy of Dogma collection.

Working with limited film exposures and developing negatives in the field using makeshift equipment and rice-filled ammunition boxes to combat moisture, Võ created a collection that possesses both the compositional rigor of cinema and the candor of photojournalism.

“Mangrove Theatre” is an evolving exhibition that has been presented in different iterations. This time, “Mangrove Theatre: The Wartime Photography of Vo An Khanh" is co-presented by Galerie Bao and Dogma Collection at Galerie Bao in Paris.

About Mangrove Theatre:

- Duration: November 13 - December 20, 2025
- Opening hours: Wednesday - Saturday, 11 am - 7pm, Tuesday: by appointment only
- Venue: Galerie Bao, 49 avenue Parmentier, Paris 11

#Photography#Art galleries

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