That Little Distance
2013
These portraits were produced inside an old, previously state-owned factory in Hanoi, Vietnam. The room had a large, north-facing window permitting no direct sunlight – only a soft, even illumination throughout the day – like a Victorian daylight studio would. The exposure times of the photographs are between 15 and 20 seconds. The photographer appears in all of the images. Six months after this work began, access to the old factory was forbidden by the city authorities, everyone there had to leave and all entry denied. Only the light can still get in.
“Upon first glance, the moody environment appears staged, examining the chance we are visual accomplices with a voyeuristic lens betrothed to the gravity of European colonial paintings. One quickly recognizes that the Vietnamese protagonists in Maxtone-Graham’s photographs do not appear vulnerable. There is an aloofness to their composure. Whether they meet our gaze or avert it with persuasive manner, the figures confront us with silent command, seemingly oblivious to any susceptibility their bare flesh may have. Rather, the only emotional liability can be found in the artist’s figure, sometimes so obscured in the photographs’ smoky shadows he is almost insignificant. The artist’s body language, with his bowed head, inverted eyes and distance to each Vietnamese protagonist suggests submissiveness and at times, hints of languid laziness. These silent, inverted politicized acts, his hermetic handshake to the racial portrayal of slaves and servants in colonial paintings.
“Some of the artist’s compositions are reminiscent of the uncanny and uncomfortable environments by British painter Lucien Freud, while the staged photographic reference to painting history recalls Canadian photographer Jeff Wall, but without the fantastical theatrics. Maxtone-Graham’s ‘stage’ is a derelict former factory, which becomes collateral to his ominous ambiance. The artist also presented his series Still-Life, which were created in the same space. Collectively, the works are visually haunting and somberly beautiful. In That Little Distance, Maxtone-Graham presents a richly layered exhibit, simultaneously espousing and renouncing the history and power of cultural portrayal between east and west.”
Lien Truong, Professor of Art at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill