Hanoi Streets 1985–2015 In the Years of Forgetting
Photography and text
William E. Crawford
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Introduction
The opportunity to travel to North Vietnam turned up by
In the late 1960s, I’d marched in protest against the War, but my
time what the Vietnamese called the American War had been over
number been called. In the end, the War never claimed me—but
surprise. In 1985 a friend had the connections necessary to put
together a trip, and I pretty much begged to come along. At that
for ten years. Yet major issues remained unsettled. The Americans wanted an accounting of personnel missing in action (MIA) and prisoners of war (POW). They were also concerned about
Vietnam’s occupation of Kampuchea (the former Khmer Rouge– controlled state of present-day Cambodia), and its poor record on human rights. In turn, the Vietnamese wanted diplomatic
normalization and an end to the American-led trade embargo,
which was crippling Vietnam’s post-war economic recovery. The
situation was complicated by shifting agendas and demands, and the fact that neither side was willing to make real concessions. I understood little of this back in 1985—few Americans did. I had no ideological point of view: just a photographer’s
curiosity about how things might look and people might behave. I wasn’t interested in hearing about the “lessons of Vietnam,”
which always struck me as dangerously oversimplified, at best.
Circus Performer, 1988
draft number never came up and my sense of urgency largely
disappeared. I don’t know what would have become of me had my that was a question of luck, not a demonstration of character.
Nevertheless, I became one of the first Western photographers to work in post-war North Vietnam. I’ve photographed Hanoi, its people, and the surrounding countryside at intervals since
1985—always drawn back, in particular, to the complex historical area known as the 36 Streets.
As a documentary photographer, I see my work as a means of
understanding and remembering culture and society through the making, selection, and arrangement of images. Unlike photojournalism, which is interested in the theater of
the moment, documentary photography tends to take a longer view of things.
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Kim Mã Pagoda, 1986
Father and Son at the Corner of Hàng Dầu (Oils Street), 1988
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Ngõ Hàng Chi (Thread Street), 1991
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Madam Tien, seen opposite (looking down) is pictured below on the right, nineteen years later
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26 Phố Ngọc Hà (With Lottery Seller), 1986 26 Phố Ngọc Hà, 2005
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Street Vendor, 1986
3 Hàng Chiếu (Mats Street), 1986
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174 Hàng Bông (Cotton Street), 1986
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222 Hàng Bông (Cotton Street), 1986
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214 Hàng Bông (Cotton Street), 1986
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Looking Down HÃ ng Gai, 1988
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Motorbike and Bicycles Going Home, 1987
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Transformation of 6 Hàng Buồm: (Pre-colonial Style) 1986, (Doi Moi Era) 1991
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Young Men Talking, 1988
Transformation of 6 Điện Biên Phủ: 1986, 1991, 1994 (gate was stolen in 1991)
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Transformation of 14 Lương Ngọc Quyến: 1988, 1995, 2009 (on following pages)
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