“The Gates” – A Dialogue Between Past and Present

Amid the “Quốc Tử Giám Through Art” exhibition, Phạm Duy’s photographic series “The Gates” offers a contemplative perspective on Văn Miếu – Quốc Tử Giám.

Created using wet plate ambrotype photography, a 19th-century photographic process that produces images on glass, the series draws upon a technique once used by French photographers to capture some of the earliest images of Văn Miếu – Quốc Tử Giám. By reviving this historic process within the heritage site today, Phạm Duy creates a dialogue across time, where the techniques of the past meet a contemporary artistic vision.

For Phạm Duy, this artistic approach is no coincidence. Rather, it represents a continuation of his personal research and artistic exploration of gates in architecture, a subject he has pursued since 2017. As one of Vietnam’s most significant architectural landmarks, Văn Miếu – Quốc Tử Giám has become an important destination in his creative journey.

“For me, the gates here are more than just architectural structures. The series of gates at Văn Miếu – Quốc Tử Giám can also be seen as a sequence of spaces that tell a story, with each gate serving as a ‘threshold of transition’, guiding visitors from the everyday world into a realm of knowledge, creativity, and moral character.”

Through “The Gates”, Phạm Duy hopes that each photograph will serve as a bridge connecting viewers with history, inviting them to discover the deeper meanings that past generations have embedded in the architectural layers of Văn Miếu – Quốc Tử Giám.

For every gate opens not only onto a new space, but also onto a journey of discovery, revealing the cultural, intellectual, and humanistic values that have been nurtured and passed down for nearly a thousand years.

Translator: BP