“Voice of the Wall” is the name of French artist Lolo Zazar's photo exhibition at L'Espace, Hanoi, which depicts Hanoi's patchy walls.

"When I go out on the streets, I often see that Hanoi is like an open air museum. Its walls are like works of art. It makes me take out my camera to capture each image", says Zazar.

The 18 photos on display at the exhibition are selected from 2,500 he took over the last five years in Hanoi. They reflect the rapid change of walls in the capital.

Living 5 years in Vietnam, being attracted by rapid changes of Hanoi, Lolo Zazar records time’s marks on walls of the city with sharp and romantic view.

KH CAT B TONG means drilling and cutting cement. These mobile phone numbers are from individual and small business which provides services for building and destroying buildings.

Thousands of phone numbers like these cover the public walls in Vietnam and a big fragment of history is being written in these walls.

These signs are made by humans and change with time and are affected by natural factors, such as wind, rain, sun and the heat.

From his 5 years of living in Vietnam, fascinated by the constant and rapid changes of Hanoi, Lolo Zazar documented these changes in the city walls.

These are the moving pictures and a combination of many factors.

To celebrate the 1000th anniversary, the phone numbers on public walls are being erased but you can still find them in small lanes everywhere.

"Each wall has its own story to tell. A large part of Hanoi's history is engraved on the walls. Those walls are typical of Vietnamese cities, not only in Hanoi," Zazar said.

For some urban managers, the variegated walls may show that Hanoi is not very clean. However, in Zazar's eyes, the walls reflect the animated life in the city. Zazar's photos surprises quite a few visitors at the show. When they look at the works, they believed that the works on display were paintings.

"I wonder which technique he used in his painting, to make it so lively and sincere. It's difficult to know immediately that they are photos," says a visitor at the show.

Lolo Zazar works in different genres of art, from fine art and photography to sculpture. He is living in Viet Nam to conduct some of his personal art projects about the country. He had his first exhibition of sculpture and lacquer work at L'Espace in 2010.

The exhibition will end on June 11 at L’Espace, 24 Trang Tien St. 

Source: VNN