Vietnam · Hanoi / 20th century · sandal type; display photographed 2012
Ho Chi Minh sandals
Tyres, straps and a long walk
A display of sandals in the Ho Chi Minh Museum, Hanoi, photographed in 2012. The museum labels connect the tyre-rubber sandal type to the resistance war; the specific provenance of this pair is not established here.
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Sandals cut from old tyres and held by straps are associated with the Vietnamese resistance and with Ho Chi Minh’s own austere image. They are a lesson in material scarcity: a wartime economy turned discarded rubber into footwear. The museum display presents the sandals as a political object, but a display is not a biography. We do not know who wore this pair, on which trail, or for how long. The object’s power comes from that combination of ordinary use and official memory.
- Date
- 20th century · sandal type; display photographed 2012
- Maker / designer
- Museum display; individual maker unknown
- Material
- Rubber tyre, straps
- Context
- A museum display in the Ho Chi Minh Museum; the type is associated with the resistance, but this pair’s provenance is not established.
Evidence: Date is a period or later photograph · Place established
Historical record
- The display is in the Ho Chi Minh Museum, Hanoi, and was photographed in 2012.
- The tyre-rubber sandal type is associated with the Vietnamese resistance.
- The specific pair’s maker, wearer and date are not established here.
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