Vietnam stories

The traveling exhibition Vietnam Stories was initiated by Caritas Czech Republic as part of the three-year international MIND project (Migration / Interconnectedness / Development), which aims to involve European society more deeply in addressing the causes of migration and supporting migrants as key players in European development. A collection of documentary photographs by Jindřich Štreit, captured over the course of one year, presents the everyday lives and extraordinary moments of the Vietnamese diaspora in the Czech Republic. It offers a glimpse into the homes, workplaces, and ceremonial halls of a community that has lived in our country for three generations, yet we often still perceive each other as strangers.

The exhibition catalogue is designed as a photo album. Double-sided sheets with image reproductions are produced in standard photograph formats and inserted individually between larger pages of accompanying text. Descriptions that briefly explain the traditions, customs, and rules the Vietnamese community maintains—or conversely abandons in a European environment—as well as family and social ties, are hidden behind the photographs. This allows the images to be framed by a clean white space, just like in a traditional album.

The trilingual text is set in a typeface with simple geometry. The only decorative element is a dot, referencing the diacritical marks of written Vietnamese that distinguish tonal meanings. The catalogue, featuring a full-bleed photograph on the cover without any additional graphic intervention, was created in collaboration with the Reformát bookbindery.

Initiator/client:
Charita ČR

Year:
2020

Design:
Karla Gondeková

Print and bookbinding:
Reformát