Réhahn Croquevielle introducing his collection entitled Precious Heritage
Falling in love with Vietnam
Croquevielle, born in 1979 in Normandie, France, is well-known worldwide for his portraits. He traveled to 35 countries and has captured a lot of culturally and artistically valuable photos.
His first visit to Vietnam was in 2007. He accompanied a French non-governmental organization to support needy children in Hoi An city, Quang Nam province. There, he immediately fell in love with local people and its landscapes.
One year later, he returned to Vietnam to visit the tourist town of Sa Pa in Lao Cai province. He was lured by the town’s beautiful panoramas as well as traditional colorful clothes of the H’mong, Dao and Xa Pho ethnic minority peoples.
After returning home, Croquevielle studied the Vietnamese culture.
In 2011, Croquevielle decided to sell his house and took his family to settle in Hoi An to pursue his passion for photographing Vietnam.
Unforgettable memories
One time while taking a walk in Hoi An, Croquevielle came across Bui Thi Xong, an old boat rower on the Hoai River. When he raised the camera, Xong covered her face with her hands to conceal her shyness. That natural moment made the picture especially appealing.
He named the photo “Hidden Smile.” Then, the photo was published in a number of famous newspapers and magazines, including Conde Nast Traveler, The Times and National Geographic and was voted the world’s most beautiful photo of a woman.
In 2013, Croquevielle rode across the Northwestern region of Vietnam in 15 days, visited over 50 villages and captured images of the local beautiful landscapes and people. He was especially moved by how locals welcomed him. “They received me like their relatives. They gave me food, tea, and local specialties. Both children, the elderly and landscapes here are great,” he remembered.
However, not every trip of Croquevielle went well. For example, he had to walk on foot tens of kilometers to Pa Then mountainous hamlet (Tan Bac commune, Quang Binh district, Ha Giang province). Then, he had to ask a teacher to act as a translator to persuade the hamlet patriarch to allow him to photograph his wife.
One time, it took Croquevielle three years to convince the Ro Mam ethnic minority group in Sa Thay district, Kon Tum province, to allow him to capture their daily activities in his photos.
Another time, Croquevielle met with a timid girl, An Phuoc, with beautiful eyes, in Phan Rang-Thap Cham city, Ninh Thuan province. He spent three days talking with the girl in order to take her photo. After that, when he learned about financial difficulties of her family, the French photographer presented them with a calf.
Notably, Croquevielle actively did charity in needy localities where he visited. He bought a new boat for Bui Thi Xong, the woman in his photo “Hidden Smile,” or he called his friends to raise funds to buy warm clothing for children of the H’mong ethnic minority group in a record cold spell in Sa Pa in 2016. Croquevielle shared that his photographing is not only a job but also an opportunity for him to learn more about life of ethnic minority people in Vietnam.
Noble desires
After visiting 48 out of 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam, Croquevielle worries about possible risks and threats to these groups’ culture, particularly their traditional clothing, which could fall into oblivion. Among 54 groups, only 10 now wear their traditional clothes daily. In this way, in the next 5-10 years, we may only see those images in museums, he said.
Croquevielle thought that he had to do something to help Vietnamese ethnic minority groups preserve their traditional cultural values. In 2014, he introduced a 150-photo book “Vietnam-Mosaic of Contrasts.” The book is now sold in 29 countries and has become a best-seller in Vietnam. The same year, he took a photo “Good friends,” capturing a six-year old girl named Kim Luan from the M’nong ethnic minority group praying near an elephant. The photo was introduced by Carter News Agency and later became a cover image of many famous photo magazines in the world.
In January 2017, Croquevielle opened the Precious Heritage Gallery Museum in Hoi An city. The museum displays many photos of Vietnamese ethnic people wearing their traditional clothing. Croquevielle said that the museum is both a gift to local ethnic minority people as well as a bridge to popularize Vietnamese culture to international and domestic visitors.
In August 2017, he launched an exhibition “Invaluable Heritages” at the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology in Hanoi. On display were his 35 portraits of the elderly and children representing the ethnic minority groups throughout the country, wearing their traditional garments.
For Croquevielle, Vietnam has brought him endless inspiration. His target is to take photos of the six remaining ethnic minority groups in Vietnam, and open more exhibitions to introduce his photos to a wider audience. From then, they will contribute to raising awareness of local people, especially the youth, of loving, respecting, and preserving traditional cultural values of Vietnamese ethnic minority groups.
Translated by Van Hieu