The Vietnam few travellers know

For the last eight years, travel photographer Réhahn has been working on an ambitious project to photograph members from all 54 of Vietnam’s recognised ethnic groups.



“I started thinking deeply about the word ‘heritage’ after I became a father,” said travel photographer Réhahn. “Like all parents, I asked myself what my children would learn from me, what I could pass down to them.”

Originally from Bayeux in Normandy, France, Réhahn has been living in the Vietnamese city of Hoi An since 2011. For the last eight years, he’s been working on Precious Heritage, an ambitious project to photograph members from all 54 of Vietnam’s recognised ethnic groups.

“In the midst of my self-questioning when I became a father, I was voyaging throughout Vietnam as a travel portrait photographer,” Réhahn explained. “I met people from different cultures who expressed regrets that their children were no longer learning their ancestral languages or handicrafts.


The more I discovered about these tribal groups, the more I realised how fleeting heritage can be. Unwritten languages cannot survive if no-one speaks them. Songs that are not sung are eventually forgotten. I realised how important it is to try to keep some of this precious heritage alive.”


To view the photo-essay:


http://www.bbc.com/travel/gallery/20190613-the-many-faces-of-vietnam