It’s easy to take Saigon street cart culture for granted, but it only takes the discerning eyes of an artist to remind us once again why these carts are the cornerstone of our urban tapestry.
In their set of watercolor illustrations, Saigon-based graphic designers Ngan Nguyen and Trinh Anh plucked street vendors from their contexts and rendered them as separate subjects of artwork. “There are many simple things in life that we rarely notice. And one of them are [sic] the street vendors and carts we see, meet and talk to every day, but never care where they came from, their origin,” the pair writes of their illustration project on its Behance page.
On a plain white background as the sole subject of an illustration, these otherwise nondescript carts become especially unique, full of character and endearing. It’s obvious that Ngan Nguyen and Trinh Anh have an eye for detail, as evidenced by how they painted each individual segment of the wicker basket of bánh mì, or each kernel of grilled corn.
See the range of Saigon’s street carts and snacks in the watercolor illustrations below:
Left: fried bananas. Right: dumplings.
Left: bánh tráng nướng. Right: congee.
Left: bánh mì. Right: hủ tiếu.
Left: egg soup with crab meat. Right: succulents.
Left: vegetables. Right: soya milk.
Left: fruit slices. Right: sticky rice.
[Images via Behance users Ngan Nguyen and Trinh Anh]
