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Title
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An-My Lê
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Description
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An-My Le was born in 1960 in Saigon Vietnam. Le grew up in the worn-torn Vietnam between the North Vietnamese Communists and the American allies in South Vietnam. As a teenager, she was evacuated in 1975 through the help of the American military in Southeast Asia. After ending up in California, she studied at Stanford, then attended Yale to get an art degree. Although she didn’t have a specific mentor, her life experiences in particular with the war in Vietnam Vietnam War had huge impacts on her work. She spent almost a decade photographing US Navy’s missions across 20 countries like Senegal, Indonesia, and even her home country of Vietnam. (Wikipedia, Art Institute Chicago)
An-My Lê works in a distinct category of art—photography enhanced through edits and subtle touches—but her images deliver a clear message: America projects power even outside of combat. Combining her childhood experience getting rescued by American soldiers in post-war Vietnam, her work highlights the humanitarian, collaborative, and critical missions undertaken by the nation’s elite forces to protect democracy at home and abroad. Her photographs include portraits of sailors in training, in formal dress, in combat-ready stances, and sometimes solitary images of American weaponry poised for action. Sometimes, our country’s military isn’t all about fighting: it’s about uniting people together, helping those in need, and her works blur the lines between documentary and conceptual photography through the neutral, contemplative perspective. These mundane portraits emphasize the enduring significance of the U.S. military and evoke a sense of patriotism for Americans everywhere. (An-My Lê, Art Institute Chicago) Over her 10-year journey documenting the U.S. in non-combat zones, An-My Lê photographed deployments to Iraq, rescue missions in post-earthquake Haiti, training exercises with Vietnam, and science missions in the Arctic.
From her book Events Ashore, I selected Ship Divers, USS New Hampshire, Arctic Seas, 2011, featured on her website. The photo has a vintage feel, with high contrast enhancing its dramatic tone. While the submarine is the largest object, the eye is drawn to the two soldiers standing atop it—an imposing and powerful image that, despite the scientific nature of the mission, conveys force and strength. For viewers, it represents the pride and resilience of the American Navy. From the viewer’s angle with soldiers’ spacing, the photographs are heavy and intimidating, and is a display of force despite this being a scientific mission for the US Navy in the Arctic. To many observers, including myself, it conveys a piercing sense of pride, toughness, and strength to all who see it- even fear to others. (An-My Le)
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Alternative Title
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Ship Divers, USS New Hampshire, Arctic Seas, 2011
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Source
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Lê, An-My. “Events Ashore.” An-My Lê, https://anmyle.com/events-ashore-1. Accessed 20 Apr. 2025.
“An-My Lê.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An-My_L%C3%AA. Accessed 20 Apr. 2025.
“A/AAPI Artists.” The Art Institute of Chicago, https://www.artic.edu/highlights/49/a-aapi-artists. Accessed 20 Apr. 2025.
“An-My Lê.” Art21, https://art21.org/artist/an-my-le/. Accessed 20 Apr. 2025.
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Name
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Luodi Wang
