“Your Vietnam work explodes. It possesses a fierceness. Your excitement and pure joy, your study of Vietnamese history and culture and language, your education, your passionate nature with your complete control and mastery of the camera all come together at one time.”
"...a beautiful [exhibition] about a remarkable person. Catherine's relationship with Việt Nam runs far deeper than photography – it’s a love story between artist and place, built on empathy, presence, and time. Her images are more than records of change; they feel like acts of connection. Few photographers manage to weave humanity, history, and personal truth together so seamlessly. The decades she has spent show the world not only what Việt Nam looks like, but how it feels – and in doing so, she has given something back that words rarely can. Her images are a moving tribute, and reflect both her craft and her heart, and that carries through to wherever she points her lens in the world." - Paul Indigo, photographer and writer, 2025
EXHIBITION PRESS & INTERVIEWS
This Vietcetera article profiles Catherine Karnow and her long-term photo-project chronicling Vietnam from 1990 to 2015, showing how her images document the country’s shift through years of reform, war legacies and rapid modernization.
This heartfelt article, in the widely distributed Travellive Magazine, presents Catherine Karnow’s exhibition celebrating her rare friendship with Vietnam’s hero, General Vo Nguyen Giap. It reflects on her personal 1994 visit to Dien Bien Phu at the General’s private invitation, where she was the only foreigner accompanying him back to the historic battlefield. The exhibition also revisits her decades documenting Vietnam’s people and transformation, culminating in her role as the only foreign photographer allowed to capture General Giap’s funeral and burial—images now woven into Vietnam’s collective memory.
This interview by Vietnam Today on VT4, viewed in Vietnam and by nearly four million people across the Vietnamese diaspora, captures Catherine Karnow’s deep bond with Vietnam — from her decades documenting its transformations to her rare friendship with Võ Nguyên Giáp’s family — and reflects on how photos born from fate can become stories that touch the heart.
This Báo Pháp Luật article introduces Catherine Karnow’s new Photo Hanoi ’25 exhibition, Vietnam – A Changing Country 1990–2015. It reflects on how a chance first visit in 1990 grew into a lifelong bond with Vietnam, and how her images have captured the country’s dramatic transformation over more than three decades.
This Viet Nam News interview highlights Catherine Karnow’s 35 years photographing Vietnam — a journey she calls “the greatest gift of my life” — and her new Photo Hanoi ’25 exhibition documenting the country’s transformation.
This VOV6 article announces Catherine Karnow’s exhibition, Vietnam 25 Years Documenting A Changing Country • 1990–2015, part of Photo Hanoi ’25. Through 35 years of photography, it offers an intimate, deeply felt portrait of Vietnam’s dramatic transformation from 1990 to 2015.
Thế Giới & Việt Nam article presents her exhibition in Vietnam. It highlights how Catherine’s photography over more than three decades offers an intimate, emotional chronicle of Vietnam’s transformation from the early 1990s to 2015 — from wartime aftermath and the era of Đổi Mới to a dynamic, modernising society.
This Phụ Nữ Việt Nam article spotlights Catherine Karnow’s exhibition, Vietnam thay 1990–2015, part of Photo Hanoi ’25. It highlights her decades‑long journey photographing Vietnam since 1990, capturing both the country’s painful wartime legacies and the rise of a vibrant, modern society.
This An Ninh Thủ Đô article highlights Catherine Karnow’s exhibition, Vietnam 25 Years Documenting A Changing Country • 1990–2015, showcasing decades of her photography documenting Vietnam’s transformation from post‑war years to a modern, dynamic society.
This Hanoi Radio & Television article covers Catherine Karnow’s exhibition, Vietnam – A Changing Country 1990–2015, part of Photo Hanoi ’25. It highlights how her decades of photography chronicle Vietnam’s remarkable transformation — showing the country’s journey from early post‑war years, through Đổi Mới, to its modern, dynamic society by 2015
PAST EXHIBITIONS
Catherine’s retrospective: Vietnam 25 Years Documenting a Changing Country opened at the Art Vietnam gallery in Hanoi, where it became the most visited show at Vietnam’s most prestigious gallery.
Vietnam 25 Years Documenting a Changing Country • 1990 - 2015 will be exhibited at the 45 Tràng Tiền Gallery in Hanoi, November 21 - December 5, 2025.