Tiane Doan na Champassak, Indo-chine, 2021

Born into an illustrious Annamite family, Doan Vinh Thuan, a lawyer and writer, met Mathilde Hossenlopp, originally from Alsace, in Baden Baden. It was love at first sight. They married in 1913, and moved to Indochina, then a French colony. There Mathilde discovered photography, and between 1915 and 1929 produced an important collection of glass plates. The subjects included the rituals of colonial life: holidays, rice cultivation, Vietnamese good society and those employed in jobs bordering on slavery. The couple’s grandson, the visual artist Tiane Doan na Champassak, brings together here Mathilde’s work and a selection of texts written by her husband between 1909 and 1913.