‘Remember Barbara’ Exhibition - Shattered Memories of Women in War

At the opening ceremony.

An exhibition titled ‘Remember Barbara’ opened at the Vietnamese Women's Museum in Hanoi on December 14, telling the stories of 14 women who are living witnesses of World War II.

The exhibition is the result of an eight-year project by French photographer, documentary-maker and videomaker Maureen Ragoucy, who went to visit the women in France, Italy, England, Germany, Poland, Hungary, the US and Japan.

Ragoucy said that the name of the exhibition "Remembering Barbara" was inspired by her grandmother and the famous poem of the same name published in 1946 by Jacques Prévert.

The 14 women were filmed in their own homes. They have different homelands, voices, personalities, occupations but share the same historical memories.

The stories they tell are realistic and moving, tied to everyday life during the Second World War. At the time of the war, these people had to leave their homelands, flee from slums, be imprisoned, or face the loss of loved ones, but they are always brave and flexible to overcome these challenges.

War through the eyes of women living in different countries makes it easy for the public to see similarities: Not only in Vietnam but everywhere in the world, women are strong and courageous, overcome hardships, losses, sacrifices with love of life and aspiration for peace.

The exhibition features the words and voices associated with their portraits, thereby showing the war in a realistic and vivid way from their perspectives.

'Remember Barbara' has been exhibited by Ragoucy at many museums in France. In 2019, she received a creative support grant from the Hauts-de-France region to present her special project in Vietnam.

Visitors listen to the characters tell their stories.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Nguyen Thi Minh Huong, vice president of the Vietnam Women's Union, said the exhibition looks to mark the 50th anniversary of Vietnam-France diplomatic relations and a decade of the countries’ strategic partnership in 2023.

These stories are even more meaningful when introduced in the space of the Vietnam Women's Museum - a place to display and keep historical stories about Vietnamese women, female civil servants, “long-haired army", young female volunteers, female drivers on the legendary Truong Son Trail, an artery connecting the North and the southern battlefields, have become legends representing many classes of heroic Vietnamese women.

She expressed her belief that the event will have a strong impact, continuing to open up opportunities and cooperation activities between Vietnam and France in general, and between Vietnamese and French women in particular.

Attending the exhibition and cutting the opening ribbon, French Ambassador to Vietnam Nicolas Warnery said: “Museum cooperation is one of the key activities in cultural exchange and cooperation between Vietnam and France. Today's event took place at the Vietnam Women's Museum, a museum loved by many international visitors to Hanoi. I believe that the story told about women, heroines in everyday life will give viewers a lot of thoughts and emotions."

The exhibition will run until the end of December.

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