Groups of Hanoi residents and visitors of all ages have banded together to capture the city’s disappearing traditional architecture through drawings.
Urban Sketchers Hanoi (USH) is a collective of art enthusiasts, architects and tourists who seek to encapsulate the essence of Hanoi’s ever-changing urban landscape before much of its uniqueness is lost to modernization.
“Our city changes every day,” architect Tran Thi Thanh Thuy told The Word Hanoi. She went on to recount the city’s transformation during her own lifetime. “It changes very fast. If I don’t sketch it now I will forget. I sketch to keep good memories, to capture a beautiful place and to share it. To show my children what the city was like in the past.”
Members of Urban Sketchers Hanoi on the street.
The group’s pre-determined meeting places change each time, ranging from iconic bridges to mundane street corners. At present, the USH boasts over 1,000 members, all hoping to preserve a sweet and fleeting moment in time through watercolor, pencil, or pen drawings.
Their concern is justified, as there is no government-sponsored protection for the Old Quarter's buildings, leaving them vulnerable to decay and further privatization. At present, a third of the 1,500 or so colonial buildings remaining in the area are privately owned and maintained. Many notable buildings have already been lost, such as the independent movie house Hanoi Cinematheque, which was torn down to make way for a shopping mall last year.
However, Hanoi has a long tradition of artists dedicated to documenting the city’s architecture. One of the biggest inspirations for USH is now-deceased painter Bui Xuan Phai. Born in Hanoi in 1920, Phai pursued painting despite his father’s rebukes. He enrolled himself at L'Ecole des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine, and he used his art throughout his rich career to explore ideas of the blurry nature of objective and subjective realities.
An abstract expressionist, his paintings of Hanoi were full of beauty, longing and an underlying love for the streets of his city. According to Eye Gallery Vietnam, Phai was outspoken and free-thinking, which caused a great deal of friction between him and the authorities, making his life incredibly difficult. However, by 1982, officials acknowledged his artistic prowess.
Hanoi’s chapter is a part of Urban Sketchers Vietnam and, globally, the Urban Sketchers Network that was started in 2007 by journalist and illustrator Gabriel Campanario.
Artwork by Binh Chu.
Artwork by Mark de la Cruz.
Artwork by Doan Tien.
Artwork by Le Ngoc Quang.
Artwork by Nguyen Tan.
Artwork by Tran Thi Thanh Thuy.
Artwork by Nguyen Hoang Lam.
[Photos via VnExpress]
