Lightboxes with lights shining through layers of paper have been meticulously made. Each features images of a peaceful and ancient Hanoi, including Hoan Kiem Lake and the Temple of Literature, together with street vendors and cyclos in the Old Quarter and villages with children flying kites and herding buffalo. Dong Ho paintings were also a source of inspiration for Linh.
His pieces are often based on fairy tales and nostalgia about childhood, as he believes they suit the medium.
Various steps are needed to make a lightbox, such as coming up with a design, cutting the paper, adjusting the light colours, and assembling all of the pieces.
It can take Linh about 5 hours to finish one lightbox, which is made primarily by hand.
He hopes to highlight the charm of daily life in Vietnam from the perspective of a young designer who had the chance to experience “kirigami” in Japan, so he combines the cultures of the two countries through his works.
Linh’s enchanting Hanoi-themed lightboxes have indeed been commissioned as souvenirs for tourists.
Stories of a Hanoian girl riding her bicycle, a motorcycle taxi driver, and a grandmother looking at an old apartment complex with her granddaughter are told with light, paper, and the artist’s love for the capital./.
