In country: Xiomara Perez (left), charge d'affairs at the Panamanian Embassy, talks about her photographs with a visitor to Module 7 Gallery. — VNS Photo

HA NOI — One hundred photos featuring the landscapes and people of Viet Nam taken by a Vietnamese painter and the Charge d'Affairs from the Panama Embassy are on display in Ha Noi.

Xiomara Perez, the Charge d'Affairs from the Panama Embassy, shows 50 photos that she took during her six years living and working in Viet Nam.

She fell in love with the country soon after she arrived and spent time travelling from the North to the South to capture images of different regions that she felt passionate about, including Huong (Perfume) Pagoda, Thay Pagoda (in Ha Noi), Ha Long Bay, Sa Pa, Hue, Phan Thiet, and Hoi An.

The exhibition, entitled Viet Nam-Panama Moments, is a way for her to say good-bye to her Vietnamese friends before finishing her term at the embassy.

"I love Viet Nam. I love it very much," says Xiomara.

Xiomara's love is reflected in her photos. An image of Ha Noi at dawn shows the city bathed in magnificent gold. She has also captured on film the blue skies of autumn and the streets filled with early morning mist, an image that has all the soft tones of a watercolour painting.

Despite her work as a diplomat, she likes talking with manual labourers and farmers and asking them about their daily lives. She often gets up early in the morning and goes to the market like many Vietnamese women. She loves Vietnamese food and is always looking for new ways to cook the fruits and vegetables she buys every day.

The diplomat-photographer feels inspired by the assiduousness of Vietnamese women despite their often difficult lives.

At the exhibit, painter Nguyen Thu Thuy also shows 50 photos that she took during three trips to the Truong Sa (Spratly) Archipelago. The photos depict the daily lives of people living on the islands of Da Tay, Sinh Ton, and Nam Yet in the archipelago.

She was impressed by the splendid beauty of the archipelago at dawn and sunset, which she tried to capture on film.

"I am planning an exhibition of photos and paintings about Truong Sa to be displayed on this archipelago, so the inhabitants and the soldiers can see how beautiful their contributions to the society and to the country are," Thuy says.

Thuy became well-known in Viet Nam for her project The Ceramic Road along the Hong (Red) River, which she completed two years ago. With the success of the project, she was presented with the title of Outstanding Citizen of Ha Noi in 2010. More recently, she made a giant mosaic of a national flag from 310,000 pieces of ceramics that was inaugurated in June in Truong Sa Lon (Big Truong Sa) Island of the Truong Sa archipelago. The artwork has been recognised as the largest ceramic national flag by the Viet Nam Book of Records.

The exhibition will run until September 15 at Module 7 Gallery located at 83 Xuan Dieu Street, Ha Noi. — VNS