“Between a Rock and a Hard Place”
These photographs were made on an unexpected trip back home to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Summer of 2023. Wonderful as it was to see family again, I often found myself overstimulated by the constant bustle of my surroundings. Add unbearable heat into the mix and my entire being was pushed to its absolute limit. I would set out on hour long walks with camera in hand; scanning every nook and cranny possible for relief. By wading into the thick of it, I discovered that a simple shift in perspective makes all the difference. The city might seem chaotic when viewed collectively, but on a micro level the hustle and bustle is actually comprised of many much smaller, quieter moments; folks from various walks of life hyper-focused on their duties. Grinding day in and day out just to get by. It was this newfound sense of appreciation which inspired the title "Between A Rock and A Hard Place." Meaning "to choose between two difficult options," the phrase reminded me that as challenging as things were, there was such rich, underlying beauty which made the thought of departure absolutely heartbreaking.
Medium: film photography
Nam Hoang Tran is a multidisciplinary artist living in New Orleans. His work appears in Posit, The Brooklyn Review, ANMLY, New Delta Review, Tagvverk, Always Crashing, and Diode, among others. W/ Henry Goldkamp, he co-edits TILT – a journal of intermedia poetics.
