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with ratsamy viphakone-szafran
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
She may have left her native Luang Prabang to live in France 30 years ago, but acclaimed photographer Ratsamy Viphakone-Szafran (or Mimi, as her friends call her) retains a strong presence and returns regularly to her hometown.
She recently opened Villa Saynam (below right, tel +856 (0)71 212929, www..mekongestate.com), a long-stay four-room house by the Mekong, while a 
selection of her lyrical images are on display at Luang Prabang’s Maison Souvannaphoum Hotel (Rue Chao Fa Ngum, tel +856 (0)71 254609, www.coloursofangsana.com).
SHOW AND TELL “This is one of my favourite photos (below left ). You can’t see the lines separating river and mist, so the boat looks as though it is floating in mid-air. Yet the people inside look so determined and are so sure of where they’re heading. I’d like to think that I too am like that.”
SAY NAM MORE “Saynam means ‘where the water flows’. The furniture, materials and even the architect are all from Laos. It is colonial-inspired but with a contemporary feel. Artworks by my Lao artist friends like Thep Thavonsouk and Tiao Nithakhong Somsanith cover the walls, along with my own images. I plan to show contemporary works by many other Lao artists here in the future.”
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