INSPIRATION
To begin my project, I read Invisible Cities
As the focus of my project, I chose Bình Thạnh District, Ho Chi Minh City due to the deep personal connection I have with it. Having lived here for many years, the district feels familiar—part of the rhythm of daily life. Yet beneath its normalcy lies something quietly special. The name itself holds a duality: “Bình” evokes calmness, peace, and comfort, while “Thạnh” suggests movement, growth, and innovation. True to its name, Binh Thanh is a place of contrasts—where development and progress coexist with a sense of intimacy and gentleness, especially felt through the lives of its residents.
GATHERING THOUGHTS
Through Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino and my reflections on Bình Thạnh District, I began to connect place with personal thought. The experience of a city gradually turns into fragments of memory—blurred, altered by time and movement. In the fast pace of life, it’s rare to find stillness, yet in moments of focus, clarity emerges. Amid the constant motion, distinct memories surface—separate yet connected, forming the unique emotional landscapes of each person.
Bình Thạnh, as I observe it, moves endlessly. Each day holds hundreds of encounters—chaotic, vibrant, sometimes conflicting. In my memory, these moments drift like pieces in an undefined space. At night, when the city quiets, everything sharpens: cold lights flicker, silence falls, and people seem to pause, waiting for the day to close. It’s a feeling both vague and crystal clear.
With this project, I chose to explore the inner world of people—their thoughts and emotions—rather than the external aspects of place, shifting away from my previous, more surface-level approach.