Exhibition features photos of Hanoi half a century ago
A photo exhibition in Hanoi aims to bring visitors back in time over half of a century to see the city and its people in a memorable period of history.
In his photography, Billhardt expressed suffering through the iconography of big, expressive children’s eyes (Photo courtesy of the artist)
Hanoi (VNA) - A photo exhibition in Hanoi aims to bring visitors back in time over half of acentury to see the city and its people in a memorable period of history.
The photos, which have been unveiled for the first time in Vietnam, were takenby renowned German photographer Thomas Billhardt.
Consisting of 130 black-and-white and colour photos taken during his trips toVietnam, the exhibition gives viewers an honest documentary of the city from1967 to 1975.
The photos were selected from a huge archive of Billhardt, a specialphotographer of the then German Democratic Republic, whose photos about theAmerican War in Vietnam at the end of 1960s earned him the worldwide fame.
The photographer, who was born in 1937, said he had special affection withVietnam after setting foot in the Asian country for the first time in 1962.
Billhardt photographed the joyful moment of welcoming a child born in thewartime, captured American pilots in camps, crowds bicycling in the rain,outdoor drawing classes with barefooted pupils, the innocent happy faces ofchildren and a stadium with football crowds lost in passionate cheers. Allthese visual notes make a symphony about life steeped in hardship but brimmingwith care and love.
Between 1962 and 1975, the photographer travelled to the war-ravaged countrysix times and has returned several times since then.
The photos taken during these trips have been published in four illustratedbooks, Pilots in Pajamas (1968), Longing for Peace: Vietnam (1973), Hanoi onthe Eve of Peace (1973), and Faces of Vietnam (1978).
The free entry exhibition Hanoi 1967 – 1975, which is organised by Manzi ArtArt Space in collaboration with the Goethe Institute Vietnam, Camera Work, istaking place at both Manzi, 2 HangBun Alley and 14 PhanHuy Ich Street in Hanoi’s Ba Dinh district until November 15.
A photo book of the same name featuring all the photos presented at theexhibition is scheduled to be launched next week by Nha Nam Publishing House./.
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In his photography, Billhardt expressed suffering through the iconography of big, expressive children’s eyes (Photo courtesy of the artist) 
