asialife HCMC 1 - AsiaLIFE Magazine

On the Face of ItPhotos by Miguel LopezMiguel Lopez’s portraits—takenduring the course of his travelswithin Vietnam, Malaysia andThailand—vividly capture theuniversality of the human spiritin all its goodness. “Photographyis for me all about people,”he says. “When you are a longway from home on travel assignments,it is impossible not toengage with the human being,his/her expressions, looks, behaviours.It kind of reminds methat we are here just for a littlewhile, that every photographkeeps the human alive forever,perhaps it is the only way to beimmortal.”On these pages, Lopezcaptured images that he wantedimmortalised: of children whofollowed him around in anarrow street behind Cholonmarket, of travellers in Bangkok’strain station, of rickshawdrivers in Malacca, of people incamps outside Cu Chi. All these“ordinary people” had faces thattold stories of their hardshipsand hope for the future—andthey smiled throughout it all,which is how they will alwaysbe remembered.20 asialife HCMC asialife HCMC 21