About 30 paintings featuring Vietnamese society during the 1975-86 post-war period by two painters Thanh Phong and Huu Khoa are on display at an exhibition titled “Thương nhớ thời bao cấp” (“Nostalgia from the Subsidy period”).

At the exhibition in Hanoi. (Image: Nha Nam Publishing House)

The paintings remind visitors of the subsidy era (between 1975 and 1986), with images of a rusty bike, conical hats, worn out rubber sandals, food coupons and even bricks with people’s names on them that were used to keep a person’s spot while they were queuing for food or fuel during this difficult era.

The works come from a book of the same name, published by the Writers Association Publishing House and the Nha Nam Culture and Communications Company.

Frequently-used sayings and idioms in the subsidy period, as well as shop signboards and children’s songs are became more lively through the illustrations of Thanh Phong and Huu Khoa.

To people who has gone through the historical period, the exhibition recalls the memory of a time when sayings turn to be very popular such as "catchphrase" describing the reality of life.

The hard and destitute life is also portrayed vividly through a series of illustrations such as "National soup," "Vegetarian noodle ".

It portrays the society back in the day, marked by a policy of subsidy and distribution affecting every aspect of a particularly difficult daily life, where people only have access to essential items: face towels, dried fishes, floral shorts, or a rice ‘checkbook’, etc. (Image: Nha Nam Publishing House)

According to the organisers, this exhibition and the book will help young peoples, who do not live through those years ‘review the old things’ to ‘learn new things' in a humorous way.

“For many nights, I remembered and laughed at the odd, arid, conservative, and poorly naive of the subsidy era. Many unfortunate and pitiful stories, yet still full of surprising joy – this is the subsidy period. However, as the book shows, the people of that time were 'resistant' to the suffering not by resentment or complaint, but by self-deprecating humour. The movement has become a part of what help us survive, overcome the difficulties and stagnation to reach the Doi moi (renewal) era," writer Bao Ninh said.

The exhibition will run until August 31 at the Institut Francais de Hanoi – L’Espace (No. 24, Trang Tien street, Hanoi).

Translated by Van Anh