Featured Photographer

Jimmy Ky

I wanted to see it for myself, instead of only through my parents' eyes.

Street & documentary · Sydney, Australia · Vietnam, end to end
Their website Their Instagram
Photo © Jimmy Ky
The work

Covering ground, rather than working a patch

Jimmy Ky has photographed since he was eight years old, in Sydney, a long way from where his family came from. His Vietnam work does not sit in one city — the frames run from the coast to the Mekong to a temple courtyard.

FRAME 01 A woman in a red áo bà ba and conical nón lá hat sits in a round basket boat at the center of the frame, surrounded by vivid turquoise water rendered into a radial vortex of blur, her hand raised slightly — Jimmy Ky
A vendor backlit in a market alley — one of the frames from a body of work that refuses to settle in a single place.

What started drawing me more to Vietnam was to learn more and reconnect with my culture — to see it for myself, instead of only through my parents' eyes.

From their feature — Streets & Stories 013
02backlit vendor market alley — Jimmy Ky
03bamboo fish trap maker — Jimmy Ky
04boy in highland field — Jimmy Ky
05couple by hoan kiem lake — Jimmy Ky
06farmer thumbs up smile — Jimmy Ky
07flower bicycle old quarter — Jimmy Ky
08fruit vendor bicycle motion — Jimmy Ky
09happy poodle portrait — Jimmy Ky
10light streak motion abstract — Jimmy Ky
Portrait of photographer Jimmy Ky
Jimmy Ky Street & documentary · Sydney, Australia
Read their Streets & Stories feature → Their own website →
Who they are

A country he knew second-hand

Jimmy Ky was born and raised in Sydney and has been photographing since he was eight. For most of his life Vietnam reached him at one remove — his parents' memories, and the compressed version of a country you get on a short family trip.

The photographs here come from going back and staying long enough to look properly. That is why the work moves: an itinerary rather than a patch, which is what happens when someone is trying to see the whole of a place rather than perfect one corner of it.

See more of his work

More frames, and where they turn up

These nine are a small selection. His own site holds the wider body of work; new frames appear on Instagram first.

Instagram @kyjimmy New frames, first. Their website www.jimmyky.com The full body of work.

Vietnam Streets features Jimmy Ky as a community photographer. We are not an agent and take no commission — everything here links straight to them.