A Hundred Times Nguyen – Berardo Museum, 27 May to 28 August

By Gregorio | May 26, 2011 at 11:21 am | No comments | Events, Lisbon | Tags: berardo, events, Lisbon, museum, photography

Through the summer, the Berardo Collection Museum in Lisbon features a special exhibition of photography by Chilean Alfredo Jaar. A Hundred Times Nguyen (Cem Vezes Nguyen) is a unique work that is minimal in design, yet passionately evocative.

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As an architect, filmmaker and artist, Jaar’s work is shown throughout the world. His focus leans toward investigating relationship of power and exploitation that play out between developed and developing countries.

This exhibition is a snapshot of Jaar’s trip to a Vietnamese refugee camp in Hong Kong in 1991. It is there that he encountered the subject of this work. Jaar offers this story of his experience…

“During the course of one of my visits to the Pillar Point Refugee Centre, I was followed by a little girl. She would not speak to me but only followed. At one point, I asked for permission to photograph her. She agreed. I took five photographs of her, one after the other, at intervals of approximately five seconds.

I wrote down her name: Nguyen Thi Thuy. I could not get her age, or her story. I suspect she was born at Pillar Point, as do some thirty children a month. She continued to follow. Later, I offered her my hand and she accepted it. From that moment, she never let go of my hand. Until I left the camp.

Of the 1378 photographs I took in Hong Kong, the images of Nguyen are the ones that have remained in my memory. Forever.”

In tribute to all of the children born in the camps, he chose to publish only the pictures of this girl, repeated a hundred times.

A Hundred Times Nguyen is part of the PhotoEspaña Festival 2011. The exhibition continues through 28 August. For more information on the venue, visit the Berardo Collection website.



Museu Colecção Berardo
Praça do Império
1449-003 Lisbon

Phone: +351 213 612 878
Email: museuberardo@museuberardo.pt

Exhibition Hours:
Sunday to Friday: 10:00 to 19:00
Saturday: 10:00 to 22:00
In July & August, Friday & Saturday: 10:00 to 22:00

Entrance is free