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Matteo Trentanove –Rice and Rain

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Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. A selection of photographs taken during a trip to the states of Indochina. These images have accompanied me throughout my journey, from the muddy streets of Cambodia, to the chaotic cities in Vietnam and the sultry green rice paddies in Laos.

Asian countries have always given me an endless source of inspiration for my photography, with it’s people, scents that you smell since the break of dawn in the streets, the crowded markets that are full of life at any point in the day with the transfers in the “tuc tuc”. The long journeys by bus opened my eyes to the vivid colors in the rice fields, the straw hats, the monsoon rains that would flood the streets, the different flavors of food bought along the streets and the prayers of the numerous Buddhist temples

The real stars though, were the people I began to know and that I have come to admire.

These three states have encountere numerous difficulties throughout their history, characterized mainly by wars: the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, who with their leader Pol Pot were in a civil war that lasted 30 years, up until 1997. The Vietnam War and the many stratagems to escape the Vietcong of the U.S. military. There were also the revolts of the ethnic Hmong in Laos, which caused it to keeps its borders closed to tourism until 1994. In short, my trip took me to a part left out in the history books…

I traveled almost 3800 km. Starting from the ancient capital of the Khmer kingdom, Angkor, Cambodia crossing the whole, up to the capital Phnom Penh. I traveled from South to North Vietnam. There were two major cities, which led to my point of departure and arrival in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) and Hanoi, the capital today.

In Laos I went to the small capital Vientiane, with only 200,000 inhabitants and ventured into her small mountain villages, surrounded by green rice fields. The last stop on my path was Luang Prabang. Rice and rain… Sounds, smells and images from Indochina.

Matteo Trentanove

Weekend portfolio selected by W.M Hunt

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