The art of the Zenei group is inspired by the beauty and emotion of Nom characters (Photo courtesy of the Art Vietnam Gallery) Hanoi (VNA) - TheArt of Nom a documentary film about Nom, Vietnam’s thousand-year-oldscript related to Chinese calligraphy will be screened on January 28 in Hanoi.
Entitled The Art of Nom, the film examines Vietnam’s culture, history,customs, and the social impact of rapid modernisation in a changing world.
A group of five Vietnamese artists and scholars has formed an art group calledZenei (avant-garde) to capitalise on the revival. They are Nguyen Duc Dung, TranTrong Duong, Nguyen Quang Thang, Le Quoc Viet and Pham Van Tuan.
They are reviving Nom, the script widely used between the 15th and19th centuries. Zenei art is inspired by the beauty, heritage and emotion of Nomcharacters.
In 1945, Vietnam shifted to its current phonetic script based on the Latinalphabet. Except for scholars, few Vietnamese can still read Nom. Nom was onthe edge of extinction, and contemporary Vietnamese have faced losing touchwith much of the nation’s past that is preserved in the archives written in Nom.Now there is a revival of interest in the ancient script.
The Art of Nom film was produced by Bill Perna of Perna Content, a companycreating documentaries, web content, and TV commercials; and the Art VietnamGallery, which displays exhibitions, performances, artworks and installationsby the Zenei group.
For more than 1,000 years China’s Han language was the basis for the scriptused in Vietnam until Vietnamese created Nom. For centuries manyVietnamese could read and write both Chinese and Nom characters. They couldalso correspond in calligraphy with educated people in China, Japan, the Republicof and Taiwan.
“Now, using Nom calligraphy, the Zenei group wants Vietnam’s contemporaryculture to interact with the nation’s rich history,” said Suzanne Lecht,director of the Art Vietnam Gallery.
“They are trying to halt the erosion of traditional Vietnamese culture bybringing it into modern life using Nom in their artwork, installations andperformances.”
The first public screening of The Art of Nom will take place from 2pmto 4pm at The Gioi (World) Publishing House, 46 Tran Hung Dao street, Hanoi.
For information and bookings contact the Friends of Vietnam Heritage.-VNA
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