Issue 014 · Spotlight

Slow Rooms

Antonio di Vico
July 2026

Three young men at a blue-felt pool table in a dim Hanoi billiards hall; the central player in a black-and-gold patterned shirt leans into his shot while a man in a blue sleeveless vest watches from the left, and a foreground hand and cue enter from the lower right — Antonio di Vico

Antonio di Vico moves through Hanoi at close range, finding the city in the rooms where its days unwind — pool halls trailing cigarette smoke, chess played on a weathered bench, a tattooed back turned toward a wall of old bodybuilding posters.

Words by Jack Ross

Antonio di Vico spent fifteen years doing communications for United Nations agencies, living in Australia, Thailand, Georgia, Germany and Austria while he did it. Then he stopped, and in 2023 walked 1,800 kilometres across India, Dharamsala to Mumbai, sleeping in temples and roadside service stations. That walk became his first book, Tutta la polvere dell'India. He photographs as Vagaboots. The frames in this issue were made in Hanoi: different country, same method.

A man in a black T-shirt reaches up to adjust an enormous red Vietnamese flag with a yellow star hanging over an Old Quarter street — Antonio di Vico
A man in a black T-shirt reaches up to adjust an enormous red Vietnamese flag with a yellow star hanging over an Old Quarter street

If this is your first Streets & Stories, welcome — every issue puts one photographer's work at the centre and lets the pictures do most of the talking. Thanks for reading.

Antonio di Vico in Hanoi

My aim is to document an authentic world beyond stereotypes and romanticized narratives.

— Antonio di Vico

Everyone says that. What makes it checkable here is where he is standing. These are rooms that normally get photographed from the doorway — the pool hall, the back-street gym, the corner where a game has been running since morning — and he is not in the doorway. He is at the table, close enough to be in the way, which means somebody decided he could be.

Framed through a bicycle wheel's spokes, a man in a striped shirt sits watching against a weathered yellow wall hung with goods — Antonio di Vico
Framed through a bicycle wheel's spokes, a man in a striped shirt sits watching against a weathered yellow wall hung with goods
Women in white and a vivid red ao dai pose along a narrow, sunlit passage between weathered ochre walls — Antonio di Vico
Women in white and a vivid red ao dai pose along a narrow, sunlit passage between weathered ochre walls

That is the difference between a picture of a place and a picture from inside one, and it is not a technical skill. It is a question of how long you are prepared to stay before you lift the camera, which is the habit you would expect from a man who once crossed a country at walking pace.

Silhouetted spectators watch pink fireworks burst over a riverfront skyline and lit high-rise on a hazy night — Antonio di Vico
Silhouetted spectators watch pink fireworks burst over a riverfront skyline and lit high-rise on a hazy night
A nighttime crowd with umbrellas lines a rain-slicked riverbank watching orange fireworks explode above the illuminated city skyline and bridge — Antonio di Vico
A nighttime crowd with umbrellas lines a rain-slicked riverbank watching orange fireworks explode above the illuminated city skyline and bridge
Night crowds in rain ponchos watch red fireworks bloom over a river beside a lit cable-stayed bridge and city towers — Antonio di Vico
Night crowds in rain ponchos watch red fireworks bloom over a river beside a lit cable-stayed bridge and city towers

The institutional years probably helped, in a backhanded way. Nobody spends fifteen years being moved between countries without learning how to arrive somewhere and become unremarkable in it quickly.

Sunlight rakes across a large red silk parasol as a bespectacled woman smiles and a man works in the shadowed background — Antonio di Vico
Sunlight rakes across a large red silk parasol as a bespectacled woman smiles and a man works in the shadowed background

He is not done with India. The current project runs six to eight thousand kilometres across it by local transport and hitchhiking, the same practice he began on foot in 2023 at a rather more punishing pace. He is at @iamvagaboots.

Two shirtless men get head and foot massages in reclining chairs at a bright yellow-lit night-market stall strung with pennant flags — Antonio di Vico
Two shirtless men get head and foot massages in reclining chairs at a bright yellow-lit night-market stall strung with pennant flags
A man with an elaborate full-back tattoo sits shirtless facing walls of bodybuilder posters in a worn green-turf weight gym — Antonio di Vico
A man with an elaborate full-back tattoo sits shirtless facing walls of bodybuilder posters in a worn green-turf weight gym
A shirtless man presses two loaded dumbbells overhead on a bench below faded Mr. Olympia bodybuilder posters in a tin-roofed gym — Antonio di Vico
A shirtless man presses two loaded dumbbells overhead on a bench below faded Mr. Olympia bodybuilder posters in a tin-roofed gym
A phone-scrolling woman in a brown apron crosses a cramped Hanoi street-food kitchen as two elderly women eat at a red table — Antonio di Vico
A phone-scrolling woman in a brown apron crosses a cramped Hanoi street-food kitchen as two elderly women eat at a red table
An empty tiled pho shop with a marble spiral staircase, wall fans, stacked bowls, and a framed portrait of a woman — Antonio di Vico
An empty tiled pho shop with a marble spiral staircase, wall fans, stacked bowls, and a framed portrait of a woman
A solemn boy in a beige shirt stands amid stacked egg trays, ripe bananas, and striped watermelons in a dim grocery stall — Antonio di Vico
A solemn boy in a beige shirt stands amid stacked egg trays, ripe bananas, and striped watermelons in a dim grocery stall
An older man in striped pajamas on a crutch smokes beside a Truc Bach beer bar where shirtless young men sit on green stools — Antonio di Vico
An older man in striped pajamas on a crutch smokes beside a Truc Bach beer bar where shirtless young men sit on green stools
Young men in a dim pool hall lean over glowing blue-felt billiard tables under hanging lamps, one in bright blue walking off — Antonio di Vico
Young men in a dim pool hall lean over glowing blue-felt billiard tables under hanging lamps, one in bright blue walking off
A silver-haired man in a gold-patterned shirt lines up a shot on blue felt as a capped man in a Sports jersey watches — Antonio di Vico
A silver-haired man in a gold-patterned shirt lines up a shot on blue felt as a capped man in a Sports jersey watches
A grey-haired man with a cigarette in his lips stretches across a blue table to strike a yellow ball in a dim pool hall — Antonio di Vico
A grey-haired man with a cigarette in his lips stretches across a blue table to strike a yellow ball in a dim pool hall
A silver-haired player sights low along his cue at a yellow ball while a tattooed man in a cropped white shirt looks on — Antonio di Vico
A silver-haired player sights low along his cue at a yellow ball while a tattooed man in a cropped white shirt looks on
A camouflage-clad man in a helmet steadies a towering pyramid of water-filled plastic bags packed with orange and black goldfish on a Hanoi street — Antonio di Vico
A camouflage-clad man in a helmet steadies a towering pyramid of water-filled plastic bags packed with orange and black goldfish on a Hanoi street
A woman in a pale blue jacket smokes at a wooden-paneled cafe beneath a framed Bee Gees portrait, a wall fan, and a glowing fish tank — Antonio di Vico
A woman in a pale blue jacket smokes at a wooden-paneled cafe beneath a framed Bee Gees portrait, a wall fan, and a glowing fish tank
A silhouetted spectator watches a giant outdoor LED screen showing muzzled police dogs marching beside green-uniformed handlers above red and white stage lights — Antonio di Vico
A silhouetted spectator watches a giant outdoor LED screen showing muzzled police dogs marching beside green-uniformed handlers above red and white stage lights
A cyclo driver in a green pith helmet and a porter shouldering bamboo ladders cross a flag-draped Hanoi corner by Banh Mi Long Hoi, with stacked conical hats — Antonio di Vico
A cyclo driver in a green pith helmet and a porter shouldering bamboo ladders cross a flag-draped Hanoi corner by Banh Mi Long Hoi, with stacked conical hats
Weathered hands of two elderly men reach over a worn wooden Chinese chess board, one holding a lit cigarette, beside a glass of tea outdoors — Antonio di Vico
Weathered hands of two elderly men reach over a worn wooden Chinese chess board, one holding a lit cigarette, beside a glass of tea outdoors
A bespectacled man pauses beneath dense red Vietnamese flag bunting in a busy market street, his companion reflected in a scooter's side mirror — Antonio di Vico
A bespectacled man pauses beneath dense red Vietnamese flag bunting in a busy market street, his companion reflected in a scooter's side mirror
A boy in a yellow shirt and red shorts runs past a carved stone dragon balustrade as another child in green climbs it and a woman rests nearby — Antonio di Vico
A boy in a yellow shirt and red shorts runs past a carved stone dragon balustrade as another child in green climbs it and a woman rests nearby
Two older men rest on a cyclo beneath a dazzling canopy of red Vietnamese and Communist Party flags against blue sky — Antonio di Vico
Two older men rest on a cyclo beneath a dazzling canopy of red Vietnamese and Communist Party flags against blue sky
A woman in a conical hat and blue jacket unloads dark green watermelons from a truck onto straw as another vendor works under an orange tarp — Antonio di Vico
A woman in a conical hat and blue jacket unloads dark green watermelons from a truck onto straw as another vendor works under an orange tarp
Dense schools of orange, white, and black goldfish crowd a market tank as aerator bubbles stream up through the pink-tinged water — Antonio di Vico
Dense schools of orange, white, and black goldfish crowd a market tank as aerator bubbles stream up through the pink-tinged water
A young woman in a white ao dai holds a small national flag beneath a thick red flag canopy as a silver Lexus and families pass on the festive street — Antonio di Vico
A young woman in a white ao dai holds a small national flag beneath a thick red flag canopy as a silver Lexus and families pass on the festive street
Ornamental koi and fancy goldfish in reds, oranges, and translucent white drift through a dark aquarium, flowing fins trailing — Antonio di Vico
Ornamental koi and fancy goldfish in reds, oranges, and translucent white drift through a dark aquarium, flowing fins trailing
A masked woman in a conical hat sits amid a crowded souvenir stall behind a curtain of dangling miniature painted hats and lanterns — Antonio di Vico
A masked woman in a conical hat sits amid a crowded souvenir stall behind a curtain of dangling miniature painted hats and lanterns
Vietnamese women in red crowd a mirrored kaleidoscope sculpture, their faces and reaching hands fractured into bright geometric reflections — Antonio di Vico
Vietnamese women in red crowd a mirrored kaleidoscope sculpture, their faces and reaching hands fractured into bright geometric reflections
Through a dark room's window, a teal dusk sky glows over Hanoi's low rooftops and lit apartment towers — Antonio di Vico
Through a dark room's window, a teal dusk sky glows over Hanoi's low rooftops and lit apartment towers
A man in a yellow Dunlop motorbike helmet walks past a fabric shop and a wall of yellow safety helmets beside a stairwell — Antonio di Vico
A man in a yellow Dunlop motorbike helmet walks past a fabric shop and a wall of yellow safety helmets beside a stairwell
A woman checks a pink hand mirror amid buckets of red, pink, and orange roses and lilies as a masked vendor in a conical hat passes — Antonio di Vico
A woman checks a pink hand mirror amid buckets of red, pink, and orange roses and lilies as a masked vendor in a conical hat passes
Reflections layer a cruise boat's empty leather dining lounge over Ha Long Bay's karst islands, a headphoned crew member at left — Antonio di Vico
Reflections layer a cruise boat's empty leather dining lounge over Ha Long Bay's karst islands, a headphoned crew member at left

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