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Tina Do
Explore Hanoi through a newly-published photo-book by a Vietnamese-American former diplomat and a Swedish-Italian journalist
“A winter’s day
A Vietnamese goes to the river
Remembering his roots
The road where
He started out…”
The photo-book Hanoi Hanoi opens with a quote from the Trinh Cong Son song Ngu ngon mua dong (Winter Fable). Perhaps the lyrics spoke to the author Minh Pham, reminding him of his childhood longings for his distant motherland. He elaborated: “As my journey to the past collided with the flight to the future of Hanoi, we found common ground in a mixture of love, lost and found, old and new, young and aged, war and peace. Far from being a city devastated by bombs, modern Hanoi radiates fierce energy with a desire to make up for lost time.”
Published this year, Hanoi Hanoi is the second photo-book co-produced by former UN diplomat Minh Pham and reporter and producer Paola Boncompagni. Heritage caught up with Mr. Pham to discuss this beautiful book.
Hello, Mr. Pham. What motivated you to co-create this book?
The photographs in Hanoi Hanoi represent my quest to find my origins and the Hanoi of my mother’s youth. They also enable me to connect with modern-day Hanoi, with its unwavering resolve to move past historical wounds toward the future.
What are the central themes and images of this photo-book?
The photographs were taken on my trips home throughout the past seven years. They show the vibrancy and diversity of Hanoi’s street life, especially in the Old Quarter. After I took the photographs, Paola helped me to select and edit them. She also translated the photo captions from English into Italian.
For your published and future works, you took the pictures and Paola curated them. The fact that the books list both of you as co-authors show how much you value Paola’s contributions. Please tell us more about this collaboration.
Paola is a longtime Italian friend of mine. In addition to our two books, we also worked on variety initiatives, such as Allwehavestories.com, a project for sharing COVID-19 pandemic experiences through snapshots of people in different countries. We see our projects as our children, so there’s no issue with claiming credit.
How did your professions influence your photo-books?
Paola is a reporter, and I’m a former United Nations diplomat. We share a love and passion for the human spirit and different cultures, and enjoy traveling to distant lands and enjoying different cuisines.
What does Hanoi Hanoi have in common with your previous book?
Our first book, Mosaic Myanmar, was published by Casa Editrice Polaris (Italy) in 2019. The income generated from selling that book was used to support single moms in Myanmar. Hanoi Hanoi was published by Thế Giới Publishers (Vietnam). The entire revenue from this book will also be donated to the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange. Both books have the same purpose: to preserve the spirits of places and aid local people.
The photos were all taken on an iPhone. What were the pros and cons in comparison to using a professional camera?
Using an iPhone allows me to take photographs of people in the most natural, surprising, and candid situations. That simplicity is a reflection of the book’s bold yet refined minimalistic aesthetic.
Do you have any special memories of taking photographs for Hanoi Hanoi?
The photo Waiting for Godot was taken near my house. It captures Mrs. Hoi, who pumps motorbike tires for a living, sitting at the intersection of Cua Dong and Phung Hung streets. In the play Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, the two characters wait for Godot from curtain up to curtain down, but he never shows up. In that photo, I wondered, who is Mrs. Hoi waiting for? A dream, a god, or a stroke of luck to rescue her from the tedium of life? I wondered whether such things would come to her or if would they simply be her Godot. What crosses her mind as she keeps waiting on this street corner?
Do you intend to publish new books in the future? Will they be about famous places in Vietnam or abroad?
Paola and I are preparing for our next Vietnam photo-book. It’s comprised of photos taken across the nation after COVID-19 travel restrictions were lifted. We expect this book to be published in the autumn of 2023.
We wish you success with your beautiful and meaningful future publications!
