VIETNAM: A Window To War photography exhibition May 27th to June 14th

The Quarter Gallery at the Regis Center for Art presents the exhibition VIETNAM: A Window to War.

The exhibition is a compilation of photographs and materials collected by James R. Thompson during the time he spent serving with the 101st Airborne, U.S. Army in Vietnam from August 1970 to August 1971.

After six months in Recon he was reassigned to be battalion photographer when most of these photos were taken. When he returned home, Thompson put the negatives in storage and they remained there for forty years. In 2010 he rediscovered the negatives and began the recovery and restoration of these Vietnam photos. In this exhibition Thompson has tried to show the many sides of this conflict.

Artist Statement
“My interest in photography and filmmaking began as a student at the University of Minnesota in the late sixties. I developed an early interest in documentary and street photography. I tried to use this sensitivity when photographing in Vietnam and later as a cameraman in the motion picture production business from 1975 - 2008. I now concentrate my efforts on restoring my Vietnam negatives as well as working on contemporary street photography. I continue to look for interesting people and situations and photograph them with the dignity they deserve no matter what their lot in life.”

Artist Biography
James R. Thompson was born in Minnesota, graduated from Aitkin High School, and attended the University of Minnesota from 1967–69 pursuing a B.A. degree in Studio Arts. In August 1969 James was drafted into the U.S. Army and in 1970 was assigned to Recon, 101st Airborne in Vietnam. After his military obligation James returned to the University of Minnesota and in 1974 received a B.F.A. degree in Filmmaking and Photography. James spent thirty-three years (1975-2008) in the motion picture and video production business.

He lives and works in the Minneapolis area as a freelance photographer.
Jamesrthompsonphotography.com

A Mysterious Dragon Boat of Indochina, 1930

While conducting some research for a number of Steampunk projects coming up, this unusual image was spotted on auction in Ebay in France, a dragon boat design in Indochina, from ca. 1930. This one has a significant bit of curiosity to it because there's so little known about it.

It's such a distinctive design, but so far there appear to be no other photos or references to it in the usual sources, other than this one image. This is surprising, but hopefully we'll find out more about its history and ultimate fate during those turbulent years. For now, we must content ourselves with its beauty and the joy of its mystery.

Vietnamese science fiction and literary realism

In 2008, there was an interesting interview in the Vietnamese news with one of their leading science fiction writers, Vu Kim Dung.

One of the striking quotes to me from his interview was his idea that "to write science fiction, an author has to love both the social and natural sciences and be a skillful writer. Moreover, you should have a deep knowledge of social issues. As a writer, an imaginative mind is necessary to create interesting work. First begin writing short stories, then try with novels. You must combine scientific knowledge and literary skill."

I also found it interesting how he made an effort to have science fiction regarded seriously, when he remarked:

"Writing science fiction doesn’t mean basing stories on imagination alone. I have to study science and find scientific evidence. Then I work as a normal writer, finding context and making the stories interesting.

On the other hand, a writer must be creative and predict the future. That’s the big difficulty. The writer’s role is to create what hasn’t been invented. Writing on what already exists creates a story without value."

While I respect his position, I think that remains a key part of the difference between certain Asian nations' traditions and American speculative literature. This question of creating stories with value.

Certainly, there's a good deal of American speculative literature written with grand purpose and themes that make a comment on the human condition or seek to build a genuine love of the sciences, but there's also a great body of work that is is created without ulterior motive and grand purpose. Art that is indifferent to its value. That should be something of interest to us, this purity of effort where one has no illusions, no pretensions that what is written will change the face of arts and letters forever, yet one still creates.

I think many writers undermine their texts by trying to create something with 'worth' that ultimately goes into the dustbins of literary history because they become too much a product of their time.  There are some who succeed, but I think art can be extremely interesting when it can accommodate the truly unanticipated.

Vu Kim Dung's position on what science fiction and writers in general must do is something I'm taking note of: "The writer's role is to create what hasn't been invented," because it brings to mind, for me, Marx's classic assertion that "philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways, the point is to change it".  I would hope that many officials within Marxist-inspired systems can appreciate this and give their speculative fiction writers the latitude to explore and to be ambitious, because good speculative literature does not have to be in contradiction with their value systems, but it will also thrive when it's given broad latitude to imagine.