Hanoi’s streets, markets and everyday encounters take centre stage in a new photographic exhibition at Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi, where British photographer Andy Soloman’s work offers a record of Vietnam across decades.

Titled Hanoi: Traces of Time, the exhibition runs from 9 October to 9 December 2026 as part of the hotel’s 125th anniversary programme. It follows the hotel’s acquisition of 16 signed, limited-edition prints, now forming a permanent collection known as The Soloman Metropole Collection.

Soloman first arrived in Hanoi in October 1992 as a London-based photojournalist. His photographs document the ordinary details of daily life, from street vendors and market traders to schoolchildren, factory workers and the rhythms of the capital’s neighbourhoods. After working in Vietnam, he joined Reuters in 1997 and continues to divide his time between the UK and Vietnam.

A photographic record of changing Vietnam

The exhibition brings together images made across different periods, including Early Morning Exercise (1992), Dong Xuan Market (1992), Mid-Autumn Festival Vendor (1997) and Bia Hoi Delivery by Cyclo (1997). Other works, such as Vietnamese Heroic Mothers (1997), reflect the people and experiences that have shaped the country’s collective memory.

Viewed together, the photographs offer more than snapshots of a particular time. They document familiar public spaces and working lives, preserving details of a city whose character continues to evolve. The collection also connects with Soloman’s ongoing project, Continuum: Vietnam, through which he revisits people he first photographed in 1992 and 1993.

Each print is produced on Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Pearl archival photographic paper, with the works signed, mounted, framed and individually editioned.

For the Metropole, which has stood in the heart of Hanoi since 1901, the acquisition adds another dimension to its relationship with the city’s cultural history. The hotel’s anniversary programme provides a setting for the photographs to be viewed not only as works of art, but also as records of the lives and places surrounding the landmark.

Soloman will also host a complimentary artist talk at the hotel on 10 October, discussing his travels in Vietnam in 1992–93 and his efforts to reconnect with people he photographed more than three decades ago. Reservations are available through Eventbrite.

Hanoi: Traces of Time runs until 9 December 2026 at Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi.