Paris (VNA) - A bilingual photo book titled "Vietnam - Un voyage mémoriel" (Vietnam – a journey of memory) was released in Paris on August 12, offering a visual bridge between Vietnam and France as the Southeast Asian nation is preparing for the 80th anniversary of August Revolution and National Day (September 2).
The work is the product of French writer-photographer Dominique de Miscault and Vietnamese cultural scholar Dr. Hoang Thi Hong Ha. More than a conventional album, it weaves three decades of images into an emotional journey through Vietnam’s Northern, Central, and Southern regions.
Dominique de Miscault first set foot in Vietnam in 1992, drawn not by assignments but by what she describes as a feeling that Vietnam 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 Ha 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.
Launched at the Huong Sac Vietnam Association, the event drew overseas Vietnamese, French friends, and art lovers, and featured a solemn piano performance of Vietnam’s national anthem.
The book preserves not only iconic scenes such as Ho Chi Minh portraits in family homes, the flag-raising at Ba Dinh Square, the Long Bien Bridge but also traditions like the Tay people’s Then ritual in Lang Son and the lives of coastal fishermen.
Through de Miscault’s lens, Vietnam 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 Vietnam beyond war narratives, one of calm resilience and quiet beauty./.
