PARIS — A bilingual photo book titled Việt Nam – Un Voyage Mémoriel (Vietnam – A Journey of Memory) was released in Paris on August 12, offering a visual bridge between Việt Nam and France as the Southeast Asian nation is preparing for the 80th anniversary of August Revolution and National Day (September 2).
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| Cover of the bilingual photo book Vietnam – Un Voyage Mémoriel (Vietnam – A Journey of Memory). VNA/VNS Photos |
The work is the product of French writer-photographer Dominique de Miscault and Vietnamese cultural scholar Dr. Hoàng Thị Hồng Hà. More than a conventional album, it weaves three decades of images into an emotional journey through Việt Nam’s Northern, Central, and Southern regions.
Dominique de Miscault first set foot in Việt Nam in 1992, drawn not by assignments but by what she describes as a feeling that Việt Nam was waiting for her. Since then, she has returned repeatedly, capturing not staged spectacles but quiet, authentic moments, an old bridge, a market crowd, a fleeting glance.
She said that each photograph is a mirror of memory, reflecting a country in constant change yet holding on to its soul.
When Hà first saw de Miscault’s work in Paris, she realised that “a unique cultural story was conveyed in each frame”. Their collaboration involved months of curating, writing, and bilingual translation to balance artistic vision with cultural context.
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| French writer-photographer Dominique de Miscault, co-author of the bilingual photo book Việt Nam – Un Voyage Mémoriel (Vietnam – A Journey of Memory). |
Launched at the Hương Sắc Việt Nam Association, the event drew overseas Vietnamese, French friends, and art lovers, and featured a solemn piano performance of Việt Nam’s national anthem.
The book preserves not only iconic scenes such as Hồ Chí Minh portraits in family homes, the flag-raising at Ba Đình Square, the Long Biên Bridge but also traditions like the Tày people’s then ritual in Lạng Sơn and the lives of coastal fishermen.
Through de Miscault’s lens, Việt Nam appears not as a tourist spectacle but as a space of memory, serene, enduring, and deeply human.
The authors hope the book will reach libraries, museums, and schools, introducing younger generations and international readers to a Việt Nam beyond war narratives, one of calm resilience and quiet beauty. — VNA/VNS
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