Cuong Do Manh : TWINS

The series Twins was made by Cuong Do Manh back in 2013 and once received special media attention. Four years have passed ever since but it is still a telling example among but a few documentary projects in Vietnam that actually have an outstanding subject matter and approach.Cuong first met Chau Xuan Huy and Chau Xuan Hung in 2010 in a charity field trip to Ha Tinh province. Three years later when still unsure about how to continue photography, he was introduced to the documentary genre by photographer Hai Thanh and Maika Elan in a talk. He decided to hunt for the clues leading to the whereabouts of this albino siblings in this flood-prone land and carried out his first personal series.

Vietnam – “Twins” is an intimate portrait of Huy and Hung – a pair of albino twin brothers who live in Ha Tinh province, in central Vietnam.

Born in 2002 into a poor family of five children in Ha Linh – Ha Tinh, they have to face many difficulties: natural, familial and social. Almost every year, Ha Linh – Ha Tinh suffer from harsh and devasting floods. Huy and Hung have three elder siblings who have since married and started their own families, leaving them to fend for themselves against daily difficulties. And finally, there is no special medical treatment for albinos.

In 2010, together with a charity organization, I came to Ha Tinh and met Huy and Hung. At that moment I knew that I had to do something about the Twins. After gaining their trust and consent from their family and school, I spent time together with the two, ate with them, slept together with them, amused them and played with them like a close friend. I soon became a part of the Twins’ family and it didn’t take them a long time to became a big part of my life too.

These photographs are a window to the world of Huy and Hung – what a special, wonderful and different view it is to my own.