Hanoi exhibition exposes people’s apathy to pollution

A man eats breakfast in Kien Giang Province in southern Vietnam.

This is one of the photos that Nguyen Viet Hung, aka Lekima Hung, took last year and is showcasing at the "Save Our Seas (S.O.S)" exhibition in Hanoi from June 4 to 9. The event is held in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

A landfill near the sea in the southern Tien Giang Province. Last August Hung began a 43-day bike trip in Hanoi, traveled nearly 7,000 kilometers across 39 cities and provinces from north to south. He took over 3,000 photographs of pollution caused by plastic trash along the coast.

A boat dock in Binh Thuan Province in the south central coast.

Hung started searching for information about the dangers of plastic trash four or five years ago and found that Vietnam is the world's fourth largest marine polluter. He then decided to use photos to raise awareness of the problem.

A woman sitting pillion on a motorbike helps the little boy covers his nose as they travel past a dumpsite on the roadside on Nam Du Island, Kien Giang Province.

Many photos in the exhibition show shorelines full of trash and how plastic pervades life on the coast. Besides depicting marine pollution, the photos also illustrate how people take living with garbage for granted. Some photos show people casually throwing garbage into the sea, taking a bath in a river full of trash.

A man dries fish amid trash in Can Gio District in suburban Ho Chi Minh City.

Hung said pollution is an issue of awareness. "Many people grow up playing with trash; they do not think it is dirty. So it is somehow understandable they throw trash into the sea."

An overflowing landfill in Hoi An in the central province Quang Nam. 

A woman scavenges for recyclable materials at a landfill in the northern Ninh Binh Province.

Plastic bags are stuck on dead tree stumps as three people walk by in Quat Lam District, Nam Dinh Province, northern.

Hung said this is the starkest image for him. "It shows we are living in a ‘hotspot’ of plastic garbage."

Hung is currently working on some other photography projects which explore pollution and plastic trash in Vietnamese islands and fishing villages. He also plans to publish a book on environmental protection.

The exhibition at 29 Hang Bai Street is being held to mark World Environment Day, June 5, and World Ocean Day, June 8. It opens on June 4 and will go on until June 9.

Photos by Nguyen Viet Hung