FADED LETTERS, LIVING STREETS

In this photo essay, Maurizio Saroli turns his gaze to the layered typography and weathered surfaces of Danang’s commercial signs. From hand-painted lettering fading beneath sun and salt air to glowing plastic lightboxes and vinyl banners draped over shopfronts, these signs form an accidental archive of the city’s entrepreneurial spirit. They map a vernacular aesthetic that is neither curated nor corporate, but alive: an evolving visual language where practicality meets improvisation. Shot on Kodak colour film, the series lingers on their patina and color, framing signage not just as advertisement but as urban texture—a testament to the rhythms of trade, the resourcefulness of small businesses and the visual poetry embedded in everyday streetscapes. Through these images, Saroli invites us to see Danang’s commercial signs as artifacts of a city always in motion, inscribed in bold fonts, peeling paint and sun-faded colours.