THE CALLIGRAPHER

Hà Nội, Vietnam, 2017 - Leica M7, Summilux 35, Kodak Tri-X * How many people could today read and write near-extinct chữ Nôm, the ancient Vietnamese writing system? Probably a few dozens only in the world. Talented artist Nguyễn Quang Thắng handwrote here artistic Nôm ideograms on Vietnamese traditional Dó papers. Devised in the mid 17th century by Portuguese missionaries who enriched the Roman alphabet with additional accents to suit the specific tones of the Vietnamese language (in particular Jesuit Francisco de Pina), chữ Quốc ngữ romanized writing system has burried a thousand years of cultural past, and insidiously formatted significantly the thoughts of an authentic people.