Visiting the ancient pottery region to meet the person who "breathes life into the earth"…

Honoring traditional culture

Party Central Committee Secretary, Head of the Party Central Committee's Propaganda Department Nguyen Trong Nghia and Party Central Committee member, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung presented the First Prize to the authors and representatives of the author groups. Journalist Tran Huan (left cover), Van Hoa Newspaper won the prize with the 8-photo report "The man who breathed life into the land to become a World Heritage Site". Photo: Son Hai

The story seen through these elaborate photos tells about Bau Truc village in Ward 7, Phuoc Dan town, Ninh Phuoc district, Ninh Thuan province, hundreds of years old, considered the oldest pottery village in Southeast Asia to date still preserving quite well the technique of making pottery completely by hand. The art of making pottery of the Cham people in Vietnam has been included in the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in need of urgent protection by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Photo from the work "The person who breathed life into the land to become a World Heritage Site". Photo: Tran Huan

The special thing is that the Cham people make pottery with traditional techniques and manual processes that have been maintained by families and artisans for many generations under the matriarchal system of “mother to son”. This place is considered a museum of traditional pottery of the Cham people living in Ninh Thuan and the coastal provinces of South Central Vietnam… Those special things have urged journalist Tran Huan to come and exploit it.

Despite the ups and downs of development, traditional Cham pottery still exists over time, still retaining the quintessential soul and wild, rustic but also artistic beauty of the ancient pottery region. With skillful hands and traditional techniques, the people here have breathed life into the soil into products and objects of high artistic and aesthetic value, creating the unique and eternal value of Cham pottery.

Always wishing for quick, timely and widespread information, promotion, introduction, preservation and promotion of the value of national cultural heritage, journalist Tran Huan spent a lot of time to create the journalistic work "The person who breathes life into the land to become a World Heritage" to contribute a small part to the work of preserving and promoting the value of the cultural heritage of his ancestors.

Journalist Tran Huan shared: “This heritage is a unique traditional craft made entirely by skillful hands with traditional techniques and using simple tools to create extremely unique products with high artistic and aesthetic value. The cultural subjects and practitioners are mainly Cham women. Through information exploitation, currently there are very few artisans and potters left, the heritage is at risk of being lost due to the urbanization process affecting the space of the craft village, available raw materials, high costs for raw materials, old skilled artisans, the younger generation is not interested in the profession, the products lack diversity... From those ideas, I built an outline and received support and comments from the Editorial Board to proceed with the creation at Bau Truc pottery village in Phuoc Dan town, Ninh Phuoc district, Ninh Thuan province”.

With skillful hands and traditional techniques, the craftsmen have breathed life into the clay into products and objects of high artistic and aesthetic value, creating the unique and everlasting value of Cham pottery. Photo: Tran Huan

Like many other colleagues, cultural reporters like journalist Tran Huan also have to face a lot of pressure in choosing and finding topics that attract readers. Participating in cultural, sports and tourism events also requires quick work, objective, honest and accurate information, and having news articles sent to the agency as soon as possible.

Journalists in the cultural sector always have to research, explore, and find groundbreaking topics that others have not seen. In addition, each reporter needs to diligently accumulate knowledge and experience to create works that are both profound in content and soft, and "soulful" so that their works are attractive in the way they are expressed.

Preserving the unique and everlasting value of heritage

The work “The person who breathed life into the land to become a World Heritage” was carefully outlined by journalist Tran Huan, from the idea of ​​content, layout, light, space, working time... However, when put into practice, many difficulties arose. Because currently the number of artisans and potters is very small and they do not work regularly, they work scattered in a large village space, the products are not diverse. Not only that, this is a field that is not difficult to photograph, but it is not easy to make it beautiful and emotional.

According to him, the photos must show the diligence and hard work of the potter, from the soft figure bending along the table with skillful hands, to the meticulous way of polishing to create a beautiful shine for the product, in addition to the eyes and soul, the concentration to create products with high aesthetics... In particular, these are artisans who are passionate about preserving the profession, wishing to teach the younger generation, and at the same time promote the art of making pottery to domestic and foreign tourists to see that the art of making pottery of the Cham people will be preserved and will last forever.

All the moments, composition, light, and frames therefore need to be carefully calculated to create a complete work, leaving a deep impression on the viewer... And that is also the great pressure in creativity for the photojournalist. To have vivid, realistic photos, so that viewers can easily visualize the value of Bau Truc pottery village in Ninh Thuan, Mr. Tran Huan spent more than a week approaching, getting acquainted, and bonding with the people in this pottery village.

Journalist Tran Huan - Culture Newspaper. Photo: NVCC

Journalist Tran Huan confided: Through this work, I want to send to readers and those who love ceramic art, love traditional culture to see the beauty in the work of potters, the creativity, meticulousness, and devotion to the profession. Despite going through many ups and downs in the development process, traditional Cham pottery is still passed down, exists over time, still retains the quintessence and wild, rustic but also artistic beauty of the ancient pottery region.

It can be said that in the context of market economic life, the negative impacts have created considerable pressure and challenges for the work of protecting, preserving and promoting the original values ​​of heritages. With their roles and responsibilities, cultural journalists have been contributing to preserving and promoting the values ​​of Vietnamese cultural heritage. Each photo of journalist Tran Huan contributes significantly to the propaganda and raising public awareness to join hands in preserving heritages...

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/ve-vung-gom-co-gap-nguoi-thoi-hon-cho-dat-post264599.html