Even after five years of living in Hanoi, photographer Wouter Vanhees is still trying to make sense of his adopted city. Battling the displacement with his camera and curiosity, Vanhees attempts to decrypt the city’s secrets through his photo series, Hanoi Reflection.
Taken during the night time, he documents his nocturnal ramblings through districts and alleys, his camera lingering on empty lots, street corners and soaring architecture, all tainted in artificial light. Parked cyclos, unfinished construction and crowded clotheslines offer a glimpse into the bustling environment it must be during daytime; but in the night Vanhees’ frames seem to thrive in the calmness. But the photographer admits that decrypting the city’s secrets is something that couldn’t possibly be done. “I see Hanoi’s old scales fall to the ground and new skin appear,” he says. “But its winter air is translucent at best; it its the shapes, forms and colors pass through, but leaves many blanks to be filled in.”
Vanhees, originally from Belgium, has lived in Hanoi since 2015. His work focuses on urban transformation and the dynamics of people on street level amid changing cityscape. More on his website and Instagram.
Images © Wouter Vanhees / with permission