» 27 Ta Hien Street

The photo reliefs 57 Hang Bo Street and 27 Ta Hien Street by Hanoi’s celebrated photographer-artist Nguyen The Son correspond to the same facades of houses which William Crawford took nearly 30 years ago in the Old quarter. For his response to William’s images, Son uses his own unique prize winning medium of photo relief that he developed while completing his master’s in photography at the Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing, China in 2012. Building a 3-dimensional structure of layers of each photo, the artist makes the structure come alive, inserting into the street side all types of conveyances that change with the times from the pedicab to the bicycle to the motorbike to the luxury car, all symbols of the rapid transformation of the city. As neon lights take over gas lamps, bold advertising usurps the quiet somber atmosphere and pulses with the energy of contemporary life. A quiet contemplative beauty gives way to the cacophony and action of a modern-day city on the move, racing to the future. 

(Edited from excerpts provided by Art Vietnam)