Hanoi is a favorite subject for artists in general and photographers in particular. The city has a vibrant and profound cultural life, with all its unique characteristics shaped by the vicissitudes of history.

For Adrian Sauer, photography is a medium of reflection. The light reflected from various objects causes a pictorial representation of the material. But at the same time, photography is also, as it were, transparent and invisible.

The “Vietnam’s Cultural Diversity” exhibition features 100 outstanding photographic works from the Vietnam Photo Expression Contest 2020, “Spreading Concern, Sharing Vision on Cultural Diversity,” organized by UNESCO in collaboration with the German Embassy in Hanoi.

Hanoi is a city that was strongly influenced by French culture during the colonial period. At the beginning of the 20th century, this influence, desired and implemented by the colonial administration, was suffered by the Vietnamese population, which also still managed to retain some of its own way of life. 

As a photographer, Diego was fascinated by reflections, discovering in them a parallel world waiting to be revealed by the lens of his camera. This obsession led him to see the unseen in the glint of a window glass, the body of a car, a piece of metal, or a puddle of rain.

William Crawford was one of the first photographers to gain access to postwar Vietnam in 1985, and he continued to return at regular intervals for over 30 years. As an American witnessing the devastation and sorrow of war, he was compelled to show the humanity that coexists with deep suffering.

This dialogue between the past and the present, between two photographers born three decades apart, one an American war generation and the other, a young Vietnamese born post-war in 1978, is a poignant examination of the past contrasted with the wonder of the astonishing transformation of this ancient city.