On a wall in Madrid, between 15,000 and 17,000 plants from more than 250 species grow up the side of a building — the vertical garden created by French botanist Patrick Blanc. Vietnamese visual artist Trần Việt Hà has spent years photographing it, and the results are now on show at the Real Sociedad Fotográfica, the Royal Photographic Society of Spain, one of the world's oldest photographic institutions.

The series, called Wall of Nature, started in 2019. Hà doesn't treat the garden as a documentary subject. Instead, she pushes her images toward the language of painting: colour, light and abstraction turn cascades of vegetation into compositions that owe as much to Impressionism as to photography. The idea is contemplative rather than literal — reality dissolves and the plants become what the artist calls inner landscapes.

For Hà, who was born in Hà Nội and is now based in Madrid, the connection runs deeper than one Spanish wall. She traces her eye for lush, vivid nature back to Việt Nam — its rivers, mountains and tropical vegetation. In her words to Việt Nam News, the series is a way of bringing memories of home to life, while also nudging viewers to reconnect with the natural world in an increasingly urbanised one. Her recent work has leaned into sustainability and the fragility of ecosystems.

The venue matters too. The Royal Photographic Society was founded in 1899 and has hosted many of Spain's most significant photographers across three centuries — a fact Hà describes as both a privilege and a personal milestone. It's a fitting stage for an artist whose work has already reached wide audiences: her photographs appear in the digital art collections of Amazon Fire TV and Samsung Frame TV, and she has collaborated with Louis Vuitton, Samsung, Amazon and Vogue, with work in collections across Europe, the US, Asia and the Middle East.

For travellers, this is a two-part excuse to linger in Madrid. First, the exhibition itself runs until October 24 — a free-feeling, quiet counterpoint to the Prado-and-palace circuit. Second, it sends you hunting for Blanc's actual vertical garden, a striking piece of living architecture tucked into the city and well worth ten minutes of standing still. Art lovers with time to spare can pair the show with Madrid's photography galleries and the CaixaForum's own green wall nearby.

If you can't make the dates, Hà's broader point travels well: some of the most rewarding sightseeing happens when you stop and look at one thing — a wall of plants, a play of light — for longer than feels necessary. It's a good reminder that a city break doesn't always need a checklist.

Story reported by Vietnam News Life.