Title: Wende Museum Book Talk and Photo Presentation
Some shots from my talk and presentation of photographs from my Along the Southern Boundary book in Los Angeles.
The photographs are part of the 'Vietnam in Transition' exhibition at the Wende Museum and Gallery in L.A. - an Andy Warhol Foundation supported event.
At the talk were some of the former Vietnamese refugees that I first met on 26 May 1979 when their ship, the Sen On, ran aground and capsized at Lo Kei Wan, Lantau Island in Hong Kong.
One of the former refugees that was on the Sen On, Caroline WU, who was just seven years old back then, joined me during the talk to present her painting of the ship on which she and 1,432 others spent 35 days at sea making for Hong Kong. In her painting Caroline captured the moment that she got caught up in the melee on the deck of the ship as it foundered on the rocks. She then lost sight of her mother and, terrified, jumped overboard and into the sea - just as the ship listed onto its starboard side. Caroline still has clear memories of that day and of that moment. I thought she was very brave back then, and also to stand up at the presentation to give a graphic and very moving account of the events and what happened to her and her family. My gratitude too to my former Marine colleagues for taking so many wonderful photographs out at sea and in the camps all those years ago.
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