'Wanted' Photo Exposition

In the golden afternoon light, we welcome you to this collision between the Far East and the Wild West, between analogue and digital, north and south, old and new—to begin a new era beside the Thu Bon River.

This portrait series profiles a team of workers and artisans who were instrumental in the construction and design of Kyara, which was completed between lockdowns as the uncertain days of the COVID-19 pandemic rippled through central Viet Nam in 2020. It was a time of great confusion and uncertainty when we had to dig deep to make lasting connections with the right people, building friendship and trust to make it all come together.

We were building a dream, working with brothers and sisters to create a family home that could also be a place of artistic collaboration. When we met the Black Hands gang, ideas coalesced into an opportunity to document the people who had become part of our lives. The series captures a particular time when, as relationships deepened, the key workers were introduced to this idea of having their portraits taken—and they willingly agreed to participate.

One by one, over several weeks, they sat patiently in the garage-style Black Hands Studio. They watched in awe as Boris Zuliani and Hugo Armano lifted heavy 50×50cm plates of glass, coated the wet plates with silver nitrate and collodion, and slotted them into a bespoke box camera built by master carpenter Francis Roux. The big flash captured unique facets of their personality, recording every line on their face using this 19th-century wet plate collodion photographic technique. We asked them to each bring their most important tool as a prop. Their expressions reveal their pride in their work as well as their intense focus.

Three years later, we celebrate their essential contributions to building Kyara House—and lasting friendship. The collaboration with Black Hands Studio marks the premiere of our ongoing project at Kyara to cultivate this spirit of connection with art and artists.