Larry D’Attilio has done a little bit of everything. He’s been a classical musician, an aviator, and an award-winning photographer.
The former Milwaukee area resident now splits his time between Los Angeles and Hanoi, Vietnam. And it’s in that country that his most recent project (ten years in the making) played out. The Soul of Vietnam: A Portrait of the North is a collection of photographs commissioned by the government of Vietnam.
Having already worked in the country, mostly in Hanoi, showing exhibitions and supporting micro loan non profit programs in collaboration with the Elmbrook Rotary Club in Milwaukee, D'Attilio said it was an interesting crossroads time for his work between Wisconsin and Vietnam.
"It did take seven years for me to get to the point where I was really completely at ease with the quality that was involved," says D'Attilio.
The photographer was first invited to Vietnam in 2006 to work with contemporary Vietnamese artists, and the relationships built from those collaborations have remained strong. D'Attilio also notes that the food, culture, and overall optimism of Vietnam suit him well.
"Vietnam has a population in which 50 percent is under the age of thirty, and this is the world's thirteenth largest country with 100 million people. So that is a lot of youth, a lot of energy, a lot of excitement," he says.
Vietnam has had many difficulties in its recent history, between the Vietnam War with the United States and a war with China. However, D'Attilio's says the Vietnamese point of view is one that does not require forgiveness.
"Those are kind of blips on their very very long 11,000 year-old history," he explains. "They say these things come and go, and you survive them and move on and there's no point dwelling on them."
D'Attilio wanted this book to be more than a way for him to show his passion and optimism for Vietnam and its future. He also wanted to show what the country has become forty years away from any conflict.
"Hanoi has a kind of enthusiasm and an amazing amount of creative energy in it that we also see in Los Angeles today," explains D'Attilio. He also notes that for the Vietnamese people, "the basic culture seems to supersede whatever their political thoughts are, which makes them gentle, caring, and easy to work with."
Larry D’Attilio’s The Soul of Vietnam: A Portrait of the North also has a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for printing costs runs that runs through end of the month.