SIMONE MARCHETTI

A mass of people run back and forth incited by the beat of the drums. The dragon flies high above our heads and its fire and flames frame a moment of strong emotions. A vibrant energy is perceived in the air, the sounds and movements make everyone very concentrated. As I chased the flying dragon, all sweaty and out of breath, the power of that scene gave me a brief insight into what was really happening: that once again culture is knocking at the door of perception, awakening consciences and indicating, through its symbols, unity.
Ninh Bình, Việt Nam. A peasant woman shuttles from the rice field to her motorcycle, where she loads large quantities of grain. I took this image firstly because I noticed the red of the lady's plastic baskets, contrasting with the green, marshy background. Secondly because this image is an almost perfect mirror of the past, only the plastic of the baskets has changed. This area, located on the southern bank of the Red River delta, has traces of human settlement dating back to nearly 30,000 years ago while rice cultivation dates back about 15,000 years. Behind her on the right is the Bái Đính temple complex, the largest complex of Buddhist temples in Vietnam, exactly where it once stood. The area was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014. In the moments I spent observing the scene before deciding to take a picture, I perceived an intense sense of inner peace, nurtured by pure observation of nature and of what was in front of me. I felt my ego, personality, and history completely disappearing, and it was magnificent. Perhaps for the first time, nature taught me that to find peace, one must let go of its beauty and trust in what it does, without judgment.
Du Già, Hà Giang province. A young girl holding a doll gazes at her reflection in the riverbed just below the waterfall. According to a highly controversial cultural practice known as "early marriage", still being investigated by UNICEF and NFPA, underage girls are compelled to attend markets where they will be chosen by adult men as their future spouses. These minors cannot rebel against the selection, and the only way to express their discontent is through complete abstinence from food and water for two weeks.
A group of kids met at dusk, while crossing the Ha Giang loop in the rural district of Mèo Vạc in northern Vietnam. The route taken by locals to move from one village to another passes through high-risk, rugged, and treacherous paths. Being a mountainous region, there was no artificial lighting on the road and as night falls, darkness envelops the surroundings entirely. During my journey two people had already lost their lives that week by falling off the cliff. Even my motorcycle was struggling to navigate the challenging dirt road ahead of me, when suddenly around a curve, a breathtaking view of a vast valley opened up before me. Stopping to take my camera, I became absorbed in gazing at the mountains and the plain below, when suddenly, I heard footsteps beside me. A second later, three boys appeared within the camera's frame. I hadn't encountered anyone for a long while, and the occurrence surprised me. The photograph itself surprised me as well, just like their faces did, filled with curiosity, as I looked at the snapshot right after. The youngest one was crying, and his older brother was carrying him tenderly. Having seen these boys walking alone along that challenging stretch of road, knowing that the next village would be truly distant from that point, made me reflect on the will and resilience that human beings can face, and how often I would need that same determination. At that moment I felt great respect for them and continued towards the cool evening breeze.
An elderly woman returns to her home after visiting the market in the foggy city of Sa Pa. In this shot, taken in northern Vietnam, the figure of the old woman returning home emerges from the fog, and it seemed to me a symbol of the cycle of life. At that moment, around me, there was a family: a mother and her child. I perceived in that child the shadow of his future, one day an adult, walking alone like the old woman. The fog, enveloping the scene, evoked the mystery of our destiny and the choices that await us, making sacred those small moments in which we reflect on the path that awaits us. It felt to me that the blinding city on her back was screaming words of light.
Two uniformed guards stand watch at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Ba Đình Square.
Two women stand beneath a colonnade within the imperial city of Huế, Vietnam. They are adorned in traditional attire, a part of the most significant and final imperial dynasty, the Nguyễn dynasty.
A man patiently watches the other side of the bank of West Lake, barely visible due to pollution. The human race has chosen the city as a place to thrive. Aggregation is fundamental for the exchange of information, and information is everything to us. Since nature can be terrible, we have developed by materializing our thoughts at its expense. From the beginning of our civilization until modern times, the city has become the stage of a continuous dance between human aggregation and the incessant disturbance of noise and pollution. This has created a dualistic and dissociated relationship: the less space we leave for nature in cities, the greater its need to emerge within us, reminding us to respect the external world as a reflection of the acceptance of our inner selves. Levels of small dangerous particles known as PM2.5 in the air can rise to nearly 200 micro-grams per cubic meter, putting the capital at the top of the list of the most polluted international cities. In a context where many of the hospitalizations are due to lung problems and suffocation because of the deterioration of the surrounding environment, many people are looking for a moment of tranquility. Fishing and walking around the West Lake (Ho Tay) on weekends, where traffic eases slightly, offers Hanoi residents a chance to regain physical and mental energy.