Petronella Ytsma

Legacy

Asian family sitting on a tile floor. One child lays and his body is contorted.

An Asian child without eyes, presumably seated in a crib.

An old, smiling Asian woman standing at the side of a wheelchair-bound child.

Photographer Petronella Ytsma illuminates the multi-generational effects of Agent Orange and Dioxin used during the Vietnam War. In 2007, Ytsma went to Vietnam to document these effects for her project Legacy of an Ecocide: Portraits of Agent Orange.

Ytsma hopes her striking images spark conversation and consideration for the victims of Agent Orange.

This video was originally produced for Twin Cities PBS and MN Original in December 2012.

These images serve both as a glimpse of the legacy we left, but more importantly, they are my testimony to the children, their families and to the mystery of what makes us human.