Overcoming more than 14,500 works is not only an impressive number, but also raises a thought-provoking question: What created the special weight for the photo named "Football Eye"?
The LCE Photography Prize (LCE POTY), recently held in London (UK), attracted attention when Ms. Sophia Spurgin, a retired British teacher - amateur photographer - had her work win the highest prize this year with the work "Fish Eyes".
According to the author's sharing, that moment appeared when she was chatting happily with a local who had just caught a fish. In response to the friendliness of the foreign guest, the man raised two fish in front of him, unintentionally creating a symmetrical composition that was both strange and symbolic.
Vietnam is a maritime nation, with more than 3,260km of coastline stretching from North to South with millions of people having livelihoods directly linked to the sea.
Placed in that context, the fisherman in the photo is no longer an individual. He becomes a representative image of a community of people living with the sea, making a living thanks to the sea and also accepting the harshness that the sea brings.
From a certain perspective, the photo "Mat ca" can be considered a very special "business card" of Vietnam: a simple but powerful introduction to marine tourism and marine resources of the country.
In Vietnam, the sea is not just a beautiful scene. The sea is life. From Quang Ninh, Da Nang, Nha Trang to Phu Quoc, the image of Vietnam's sea has become familiar to domestic and foreign tourists.
Fish Eyes" takes viewers to a different slice of the life of Vietnamese people that is less bizarre and more realistic. That detail has said the most important thing: Vietnam's marine resources are not only in beauty, but also in abundance, in livelihoods, in values associated with people.
The two fish in the photo, in a way, are symbols of the benefits from the sea. Not dry statistics, but tangible, close values that can be touched, can feed millions of people. The small fish in "Mat ca" are therefore not small at all, they represent a vast socio-economic ecosystem.
It is worth mentioning that, while many tourism promotion campaigns still focus on the landscape, "Mat Ca" introduces Vietnamese sea in a different way: Through people. Today's tourism is not only about sightseeing, but also about understanding. Tourists not only want to see beautiful scenery, but also want to touch local life, understand culture, and feel the pace of life.
In the painting "Footfish Eyes", the fisherman is not only the central character, but also a part of a larger story: a story about labor, about perseverance and about the relationship between humans and nature. The sinewy hand raising two fish not only shows livelihood, but also evokes a long-term, almost inseparable bond.
