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July 13, 2016

Available for a limited time! Get an exclusive first run advance copy of Hầu Đồng : The Spirit Mediums of Viet Nam


Hầu Đồng : The Spirit Mediums of Viet Nam

US$ 235.00
(This exclusive price is for one advance copy. It's on a first come first served basis.
The price includes USPS shipping to an address within the contiguous United States.).

(Image-Wrap hard cover) 170 pages 13 x 11 inches/33 x 28 cms

Printed on Proline Pearl Photo Paper (Semi-Gloss/Best Quality 190 gsm)

Book weight approx 5.6 lbs/3 kgs

A large coffee-table format photo book with over 100 large color photographs and more than 60 pages of text, "Hầu Đồng : The Spirit Mediums of Viet Nam" explains the ancient Vietnamese syncretic religion of Đạo Mẫu, its rituals, its pantheon of deities, along with a narrative of my own experiences documenting it in Vietnam since late 2014.

Hầu Đồng is a ritual of Đạo Mẫu, and involves mediums being possessed by deities-spirits. It combines trances, spirit worship, sacred music, spectacular costumes, theater, superstition, nationalism and history. Prohibited by the French colonials and by the Ho Chi Minh regime, it went underground and is now going through a resurgence.

I am the only non-Vietnamese photographer to have photographed Hầu Đồng ceremonies in such depth.

In addition to the large color photographs and scholarly explanatory text, the book also features interviews with 7 prominent Vietnamese mediums-clairvoyants on their life stories, and on their spiritual connection with Đạo Mẫu deities.

These are exclusive first run advance copies, and will individually be signed by me (if so wished)
and may also be personalized with the recipient's name (and any message) on request.








A Labor of Love by Tewfic El-Sawy on Exposure
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June 29, 2016

The highly anticipated photo book Hầu Đồng : The Spirit Mediums of Viet Nam will soon be available to coincide with the inclusion of this ancient indigenous in the UNESCO Registry which is expected in September 2016.

With over 100 large color photographs and more than 60 pages of text, it explains the ancient syncretic religion of Đạo Mẫu, its rituals and its pantheon of deities, along with my narrative of my own experiences documenting it in Vietnam since 2014.

I am one of the very few non-Vietnamese photographers to be welcomed during countless Hầu Đồng ceremonies, and allowed to produce a photo book of this tradition in this magnitude.

Serendipity is a funny thing. Having literally stumbled on this Vietnamese religious tradition and its ceremonial tangential manifestations of Hầu Đồng and Hát Chầu Văn in late 2014 literally supercharged, and reinvigorated, my enthusiasm for documentary photography, audio recording, storytelling and multimedia production.

I completely immersed myself in this project, traveling many times to Hanoi from New York City to attend often undeclared ceremonies in the capita, its suburbs and in other distant regions to its north and east. To have access and be welcomed in these ceremonies wherever they are held, one must gain the confidence and trust of the community, and initially be accompanied by someone known to the mediums or the musicians.

Producing a book is an achievement for certain, but there's something infinitely more important to me than the photographs I made...and that's the friendships and the human kindnesses I've been privileged to experience while at these ceremonies.
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June 21, 2016

It's been quite a long road to get to the point where I now have my ducks in a row, and have the first full "skeleton" of my forthcoming photo book Hầu Đồng: The Spirit Mediums of Vietnam ready to be printed as a dummy first cut book. I have had two made a few months ago, but these were of a much smaller page and image count.

The current iteration is of 168 pages, of which 104 are full-bleed photographs and 64 text pages, and at 15 inches x 11 inches (38 cms x 28 cms) is of one the largest image wrap landscape hard cover sizes I could find.

It ought to be ready by the end of this week, and I ought to see it by the end of the month. It's being printed in Kuala Lumpur, and because of an operational snafu, I've had to have it shipped to Ahsan Qureishi of Travel Photographer Asia, who has kindly agreed to ship it to me in New York City.

Once received, examined and reviewed I shall decide on further formats and sizes, and naturally on prices, as well as produce a trailer type of video to market it as widely as possible using social and other medias.

I am hoping to have it all set up by early September 2016 to coincide with the Việt Beliefs in the Mother Goddesses inscription to the UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list.


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