President Hotel, Vietnam, Saigon: A city within the city
An imposing structure built for the U.S. army in the 1970’s, the President Hotel was for many years the biggest and most modern building in Saigon. After the U.S. Army left, up to 2’500 Vietnamese people once lived in it.
Witness to the history of Vietnam over the last half a century, this decaying architectural skeleton will soon be destroyed to leave room for modern towers and malls, turning forever the page of History. Time runs layer after layer in this building. Its dilapidated walls hold signs of a past lives, visually inspiring memories and elucidate moods and emotion. The fragments of the last inhabitants’ lives seem frozen in time; and yet, in the hallways, shadows play games, re-animating the past.
Laurent Weyl’s photos capture the essence of the President Hotel, casting a poetic eye on the last tenants who occupy it and the history reflected in the building. Here we discover a microcosm that bears witness to the last fifty years of Vietnamese history.
The book contains 80 images and two texts, each one revealing a facet of the President Hotel’s life, which has been destructed by the time the book was published.
Laurent Weyl, internationally celebrated photo-journalist, received two prizes in 2014 for the photographs contained in this book:
– The « Prix documentaire VIPA » (Vienna International Photo Award), professional category
– “Noticed portfolio” for the Scam Roger Pic. Prize.
