Binh Danh: The Enigma of Belonging

A two-volume collection of materially ingenious photographs responding to identity and the American landscape

Binh Danh (born 1977) immigrated to the US from Vietnam in 1979. Early in his career, Danh pioneered a technique of printing images directly onto plant matter, activating the plants' chlorophyll with sunlight. Using this process, Danh printed images associated with the war in Vietnam onto the leaves of tropical plants and grasses. Additionally, for almost a decade, Danh has traveled across the American West, making daguerreotypes of landscapes on silver plates in a mobile darkroom he calls Louis, after Louis Daguerre. Danh imbues this scenery with his distinct perspective--an attempt to negotiate his connection as a Vietnamese American with the landscape and history of the United States. The highly reflective surfaces of Danh's daguerreotypes literally mirror their surroundings, embracing viewers within the idyllic environs of national sites and landmarks. This inaugural monograph features two volumes in a slipcase, bringing together these bodies of work.