04-03-2016

Lorenzo Ceva Valla, Density in Vietnam

Photographer and director Lorenzo Ceva Valla from Milan documents the density of urban areas in Vietnam.



Lorenzo Ceva Valla, Density in Vietnam

Photographer and director Lorenzo Ceva Valla from Milan documents the density of urban areas in Vietnam.

Lorenzo Ceva Valla, professional portrait, architectural and news report photographer as well as film director, explores Vietnam in this new series. Yes, precisely that south-east Asian country which is experiencing an economic boom causing sudden changes as much to the community as to the architecture due to the constant flux of people migrating to the cities.
We all know about the highly esteemed architectonic designs based on traditional culture and the attempts at improving the lifestyle in continuously expanding urban melting pots or where scooters rule the roads and public green space is a mirage, yet Lorenzo Ceva Valla takes us straight into the middle of all this letting us smell the aromas from the shops and restaurants full of spices.
So, in this way, he walks us through the streets of Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi, the capital since the country's reunification in 1976. Through his eyes we discover the extremities of urban density: the thousand colours of the merchandise on display, billboards, shop lighting and the infinite number of scooters and means of transport on the roads. Furthermore, thanks to this artist we can also see stories of life in urban spaces because, in Lorenzo Ceva Valla's pictures, the concept of density is represented by all the people crowding the streets, be it for work in daytime or looking for entertainment at night. Therefore, it could be said that Lorenzo Ceva Valla is humanising the very word “density” with his camera because, in his shots, Man is the real protagonist on the stage of citizens whether it is the brave cyclist in the middle of chaotic traffic, the four girls all ready to go out for an evening on one scooter or the cook in the restaurant in the street.
It is no coincidence that portraits are one of this artist's visual forms of research and consequently focuses his attention on human figures, thus giving faces to the cities. As a result, Lorenza Ceva Valla shows his personal view of a city and its urban fabric to everyone through his images.
Every picture by this Milan photographer holds as many stories as the number of people portrayed in them becoming the vision of the definition of a city as suggested by urban sociologist Louis Wirth (1897-1952): “.....a relatively vast, dense and long-lasting settlement made up of socially heterogeneous people”. Therefore, dimensions, density and heterogeneity make the city a material and symbolic space full of specific social relationships and this is all revealed in Lorenzo Ceva Valla's photographs taken in Vietnam.


Christiane Bürklein (@chrisbuerklein)

Lorenzo Ceva Valla, http://www.lorenzocevavalla.it/
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