The Center for the Arts at Monmouth University has announced that part of the exhibit Transition: Vietnam that was on display in Pollak Gallery this fall, will travel to the Princeton Public Library early next year.
The exhibit features photographs taken by Monmouth Professors Mark Ludak and Andrew Cohen during a series of trips to Vietnam – a country where the traditional and contemporary are reconstituted into distinctively Vietnamese manifestations. Vietnam is recognized as a country in “transition,” and boasts one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Ludak’s and Cohen’s photography captures the atmosphere of the east-Asian region through beautifully executed images.
The exhibit will be housed on the newly redesigned second floor of the Princeton Public Library, from January 10th to March 30th of 2018. The library will be screening Ken Burn’s PBS series, The Vietnam War, alongside Ludak’s and Cohen’s work.
Mark Ludak is a specialist professor of photography at Monmouth University. His ongoing documentary and fine art work explores social issues such as human rights, public health and the environment. Ludak has received commissions from Apple Computer, Amnesty International, and the Environmental Defense Fund among others. His work has been published in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Time and more. Most recently he has been photographing for organizations in Nicaragua, Vietnam and Rwanda. Ludak received his B.A. from Monmouth University, and his M.F.A. from Hunter College in New York.
Andrew Cohen is a self-taught photographer and professor of art and design at Monmouth University. He has visited Vietnam six times, and calls it “a striking country” where “the food, the coffee, sights, sounds and smells are intoxicating.” Cohen says photography is a way for him to understand people and environment, and his work focuses on transformation as “the mundane, unceasing human condition.” Cohen received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.
