| AN-MY LÊ. LÊ, a Vietnamese-born photographer
who has lived in the U.S. since 1975 shows a series called “Small
Walls” made in South Carolina in collaboration with soldiers
and civilians, both American and Vietnamese, who gather regularly to
re-enact episodes of the Vietnam War. Given the charged subject matter,
the pictures are remarkably serene. Although Lê includes a few “battle” scenes
of soldiers crouched in the brush as smoke rises, they have an eerie
unreality that suggests they’re happening not in real time but
in a dream or a memory. Other images – including several lovely,
unpopulated landscapes and the shot of a young Vietnamese woman and
a uniformed American soldier seated on a log in a quiet glade – are
downright pastoral. With these subtle, moving pictures Lê invites
us to join her in a powerful contemplation of war and peace. THROUGH SEPTEMBER. P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, 22-25 Jackson Avenue, at 46th Avenue, Queens. 718-784 2084 (Aletti) |
