Don’t Wither Away

This series of images was taken in a nursing home in Hanoi throughout April 2021. I talked to the elders here, listened to them, sympathized with them, witnessed different emotional nuances from numerous stories. My approach illustrates the imaginary fear of loneliness at old age, the feeling of pointlessness and emptiness. The definition of time becomes vague. Life turning upside down in a loop of boredom as there are no more objectives and expectations.

"I have to go outside tomorrow; I will go home." V suffers from dementia and is almost unable to converse naturally. He sleeps very little and always looks out the windows saying that it is time to go home.

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B. Former pharmacist. "I don't have any expectations of life anymore." "I hope my grandchildren are qualified to enter higher education. I hope they will succeed, so life will be much easier for their kids. There are no differences between my life five years ago and my life now; at the time my husband passed away, so I had to live alone. I don't have any expectations of life anymore."

KP. Poet. “Five years ago, I worked without a day off. I wrote a ton. I studied everywhere I had been to. I did not even have time for sorrow. But now I am all depressed. I am down in the dumps because I cannot go to the pagoda. It does not make sense to me - as a poet; living in a nursing home means that I am blind to what is happening out there. I wish I could keep exploring so I can complete unfinished poems as soon as possible. I want to go to China; I want to see The Great Wall.”

Clothing tag. This ID Tag helps keep track of valuable clothes and belongings in order to reduce the risk of loss.

Two poems that KP had written during Lunar New Year 2021.

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Withering.

Vinh Tran

Don’t Wither Away