Binh Danh, Mather Point, Grand Canyon, 2016. Daguerreotype. 7 1/2 x 13 1/2 inches (mat opening, plate view). 12 7/8 x 19 1/8 inches, frame. Courtesy of the artist.
Binh Danh: Works from 2006-2024
September 26, 2024 – Feb 23, 2025
In conjunction with ICA San José fall Benefit and Art Auction and tribute to Binh Danh, the ICA is excited to show a condensed retrospective of Binh Danh’s work. The exhibition consists of sixteen works from across several projects from the Chlorophyll-based organic pieces, community-focused projects, Daguerreotype images, and his most recent series of poignant portraits on decorative plates, recently showcased at FotoFest in Houston.
Known for his innovative approach to early photographic processes, Danh extends and reconsiders the pursuit of pioneering nineteenth-century photographers. For over a decade, Danh has traveled across the American West, making daguerreotypes of scenic vistas on silver plates in a mobile darkroom he calls Louis, after Louis Daguerre.
Danh’s images are a result of his long-term investigation into perfecting the creation of one-of-a-kind, in-camera daguerreotypes, working with large format cameras modified to accept silver plates rather than film negatives. Danh imbues this scenery with his distinctly personal perspective — namely, an attempt to negotiate his connection as a Vietnamese American with the landscape and history of the United States. The highly reflective surfaces of Danh’s daguerreotypes mirror their surroundings, embracing viewers within the idyllic environs of national sites and landmarks.
About Binh Danh:
Binh Danh (MFA Stanford; BFA San Jose State University) emerged as an artist of national importance with work that investigates his Vietnamese heritage and our collective memory of war. His technique incorporates his invention of the chlorophyll printing process, in which photographic images appear embedded in leaves through the action of photosynthesis. His newer body of work focuses on nineteenth-century photographic processes, applying them in an investigation of battlefield landscapes and contemporary memorials. A recent series of daguerreotypes celebrated the United States National Park system during its anniversary year.
His work is in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The DeYoung Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Center for Creative Photography, the George Eastman Museum, and many others. He received the 2010 Eureka Fellowship from the Fleishhacker Foundation, and in 2012, he was a featured artist at the 18th Biennale of Sydney in Australia. He is represented by Haines Gallery in San Francisco, CA, Rose Gallery in Santa Monica, and Lisa Sette Gallery in Phoenix, AZ. He lives and works in Gilroy, CA, and teaches photography at San Jose State University.