This 1986 photo of a newspaper stall at 222 Hang Bong street is among 26 of Crawford’s street photographs being displayed at the “Hanoi 1985-2015 In The Years of Forgetting” exhibition at 14 Phan Huy Ich street and “Then and Now, Hanoi Streets in Transition” exhibition at 2 Hang Bun street.
The events are organized by Manzi Art Space and Art Vietnam Salon Gallery, and are open from April 26 to May 20.
Crawford was one of the first western photographers to gain access after the war to what was North Vietnam. He first came to Hanoi in 1985 with a group of American filmmakers and veterans, and kept returning times after that.
During his stays he documented street life to record postwar changes and developments in the city. His photographs have been exhibited in the U.S. and Vietnam, and were included in the “Hanoi Streets 1985-2015: In the Years of Forgetting” photobook published in 2018.
Crawford took this photo of street vendors at 26 Ngoc Ha street in the winter of 1986. In his interview with Culture Trip in 2018, he recalled the hardships he encountered during his first visit to Hanoi. He came across mice in his hotel dining room, experienced frequent power outages in hot weather, had to put up with air-conditioners that produced more noise than cool air, and ate salty food with ants in it.
He took this photo of a shop at 214 Hang Bong street in 1986. He often wandered around Hanoi’s streets carrying his large camera and tripod. As he could not speak Vietnamese, he hired two interpreters from the Foreign Press Center to accompany him, Nguyen Quang Duy and Vu Binh.
The majority of Hanoians at the time got around by bicycle, with only some having Honda Cub motorbikes, as can be seen in Crawford's photo of Hang Gai street in 1988.
Crawford’s photo of a food shop at 72 Ma May street in 1988. He had a habit of returning to places he had previously visited, especially in the old quarter, to observe changes.
Crawford reportedly took this photo of the tenement house at 127 Giang Vo street in 1988 with a movie camera. The photo was then printed on art paper.
The house at 38 Ma May Street in 1994. In his photo book “Hanoi Streets 1985-2015: In the Years of Forgetting,” Crawford notes how Hanoi evolved during the Reformation era starting in 1986. Cars and motorbikes replaced bicycles, neon lights replaced oil lamps, high-rise buildings appeared, streets became noisy, and more tourists started to visit the city.
