Vietnam at the Heart

Content : Discover contemporary Vietnam through the eyes of working women.

When Simon and his wife Li decided to go to Vietnam, they had a little idea: to cross the country from South to North for two months, looking at it from the women's point of view. He drew and wrote, she photographed. As usual, their only plan was to improvise.
They landed in Saigon and it was not the love at first sight they had hoped for. Simon became tensed in this ‘saturated city’. While Li photographed, Simon drew relentlessly, trying to tell the story of a Vietnam that eluded him and captivated him at the same time.
After two intense months on the road, back in Saigon to catch the plane home, the last three days in the city went much better than the first, two months earlier. Is it Vietnam that has changed - or is it the way they see it? The country reveals itself differently to those whose hearts have been opened.

Key points:
- A long journey on foot from South to North (January to March 2024).
- A drawn reportage of women working in the fields and in the towns.
- A travel diary painted in ink, in colour and B&W.
- A masterly mature work, close to the people and at the heart of the countryside.

Simon is a painter and travel writer from Brittany, France. Since the beginning of his career, he has co-founded the collective “Les Carnettistes Tribulants”, with whom he has published several works. To date, he has produced some fifteen travel books - most of them published by Akinomé - which combine intrepid writing and drawing on the spot to describe the world, decipher human beings and recount their adventures.