Vietnamese Cultural Weavers

Ao dai nhat binh, famous plays of the past such as San Hau, San khau ve hon, La durian, ao dai, conical hat... are endless sources of inspiration for Linh Luong and Dao Minh Tu to create the painting series 100 Threads of Vietnam.

San Hau and Me Linh Drum

The series of paintings records 100 personal impressions of Vietnamese culture.

Starting from self-questioning about understanding the culture of his home country during his time studying abroad, artist Linh Luong was determined to work with his student Dao Minh Tu to carry out the illustration project 100 Threads of Vietnam with the desire to explore and improve his own knowledge and spread Vietnamese cultural values ​​to more people.

What do I know about Vietnamese culture?

When meeting international friends, when introducing Vietnam, Linh Luong often reflexively introduces images of ao dai, conical hats, cuisine , landscapes or sometimes even water puppetry:

"I realized that I still didn't really understand much about my country's culture because there are still many other interesting things that need to be told and spread. So I decided to start researching and coming up with ideas for each painting last August."

100 Threads of Vietnam chooses to express from personal impressions.

Like the painting "Van Joss Paper" is Linh Luong's childhood memory: "Every Tet holiday, children are often assigned to burn votive paper, so I have been impressed by the color and movement of the flame since then."

Or the Dan Day painting is an impression of a purely Vietnamese musical instrument, which Linh learned about thanks to this project. The Chopsticks painting is about the impressions of children when they start learning to eat with chopsticks.

"Or the Ao Dai painting, I drew two invisible Ao Dai so that if international friends ask, I will say that wherever you go in Vietnam, you will see Ao Dai, so I don't draw them in the painting anymore," Linh said.

Choosing to make a series of paintings based on personal impressions, Linh wants to share her own experiences and thoughts about culture.

According to him, this approach helps the paintings have their own mark, while also creating more challenges for the painter: "With the painting To he, instead of just depicting familiar to he models, I focused on showing the hands of the artisans. Because in my impression when I was a child, I saw the hands of the artisans moving quickly like they were dancing."

Dan day and Black tooth dyeing

Telling cultural stories through art projects

In 100 Threads of Vietnam , there are 10 paintings dedicated to illustrating typical plays of the Southern stage such as San Hau, San khach ve hon, La dua rieng, Nua doi huong phan ...

Linh based his work on the materials he found while writing a book on this topic. He was also inspired by the Drama and Arts program, especially a quote from the artists: "I wonder if anyone will remember the senior artists in the future..."

Ao Dai and Nostalgic Ancient Night

"Previously, I spent nearly four years researching, illustrating and publishing a book about water puppetry. It was only when I finished the book that I realized that it took that much time to research and illustrate water puppetry relatively fully. So how can an artist spend just one or two weeks to create a work about Vietnamese culture?

That thought helped me realize that creating resources and knowledge systems through my art projects is the greatest contribution I can make to Vietnamese culture," Linh confided.

Referencing also helps artists balance creativity and informational accuracy:

"For example, in the painting Ao Nhat Binh, when I researched and learned that each pattern on the shirt would represent a specific rank or character, I had to adjust the patterns on the shirt, and at the same time note in the painting's introduction that this was both to ensure that it did not resemble any specific character and to maintain the creative idea."

Late Night Theatre and Durian Leaves

To he and chopsticks

Joss paper and Japanese peace shirt

The Saddle Poem and Half a Life of Powder and Perfume

Linh Luong is a freelance artist in Saigon. He has published the book Telling Stories on the Water , which tells the story of the Vietnamese people's journey with water puppetry for nearly 1,000 years. He is also the co-founder of the project From Ears to Eyes , a pioneering project to support the blind to watch live theater.

Linh said he plans to have an exhibition to introduce and publish a bilingual book for the 100 Threads of Vietnam project : "In the future, I want to turn this book into a mobile application. This is based on my initial experience when implementing the project. I want international students to have the most convenient application possible to introduce the country's culture to international friends."

Lam Lake

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nhung-nguoi-det-van-hoa-viet-20250821092836292.htm