Laura Federici and Nguyen Dam Thuy at their exhibition in HCM City (Photo courtesy Laura Federici) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - For Italianpainter Laura Federici, the chance to visit Vietnam and paint in the countrywas a long-held dream that has now come true.
Before her trip to Vietnam, she had onlylearned of the country through photos. But what she saw was enough to sparkfascination.
“I dreamed this trip for years,” she said.“I planned it but I couldn’t come to Vietnam until I received the invitationfrom Carlotta Colli, Consul General of Italy in Ho Chi Minh City.”
Colli invited her to join a specialartists’ residency project this year. She stayed at the house of Nguyen DamThuy, a local artist, and they worked together for a month and a half.
She accepted the invitation with enthusiasm.For her, it was a special occasion to work in Vietnam and get to know a workingVietnamese artist.
“I do not like traveling for ‘tourism’,”she said. “I like to travel on business.”
Federici visited the Mekong Delta, Phu QuocIsland in the southern province of Kien Giang and Sa Pa town in the northernprovince of Lao Cai. Though she didn’t see the entire country, she prefers aslower, more intimate exploration process to cramming many sites into one trip.
Federici didn’t aim to understand theentire country. The simple things charmed her.
“Everyday life, the streets, people, thenewspaper, I feel everything with pieces of my heart,” she said. “Vietnam is agrowing country. I perceived the optimism of this change.”
The country’s landscape also impressedher.
“I found the nature absolutelyoverwhelming. I saw a great beauty. But I also perceived the danger that thebeauty may be lost,” she said. “The risk exists around the world due to climatechange and pollution.”
Her home
Federici and HCM City-based artist Nguyen DamThuy were strangers to each other but quickly developed a connection, becomingclose friends who inspired each other in their art work.
“I felt like I staying at my homeespecially because my daughter is the same age as Thuy’s twins,” she said. “Iwas welcomed and pampered like an aunt coming from afar; we worked shoulder toshoulder every day.”
Thuy and Federici painted about “home”—aterm that encapsulated their own houses, the house they shared together and theEarth, home to everyone. An exhibition of their works was organised in Hanoiand HCM City last month.
Federici painted what she experienced in Vietnamand the emotions she encountered in each place she visited.
“I painted nature, water and floatinghouses in the Mekong Delta region. I have represented daily life in my works,the simple moments of every day, the warm core around which we gather: home.”
She is planning an exhibition in Milan andRome where she will display the paintings she created in Vietnam.
Painter Thuy said Federici’s journey tookher into the heart of another culture.
“We came to understand each other strangelywell when we joined the Home project,” she said. “At some point we became closeas sisters.”
Thuy said neither woman spoke English -theironly shared language- well, but they communicated with each other through theircreations and shared ideas and emotions as they painted.
“Maybe we are women who always respect theidea of ‘home’, and we are concerned with the environmental issues whichinfluence on the planet – our common house,” Thuy said. - VNA
Before her trip to Vietnam, she had onlylearned of the country through photos. But what she saw was enough to sparkfascination.
“I dreamed this trip for years,” she said.“I planned it but I couldn’t come to Vietnam until I received the invitationfrom Carlotta Colli, Consul General of Italy in Ho Chi Minh City.”
Colli invited her to join a specialartists’ residency project this year. She stayed at the house of Nguyen DamThuy, a local artist, and they worked together for a month and a half.
She accepted the invitation with enthusiasm.For her, it was a special occasion to work in Vietnam and get to know a workingVietnamese artist.
“I do not like traveling for ‘tourism’,”she said. “I like to travel on business.”
Federici visited the Mekong Delta, Phu QuocIsland in the southern province of Kien Giang and Sa Pa town in the northernprovince of Lao Cai. Though she didn’t see the entire country, she prefers aslower, more intimate exploration process to cramming many sites into one trip.
Federici didn’t aim to understand theentire country. The simple things charmed her.
“Everyday life, the streets, people, thenewspaper, I feel everything with pieces of my heart,” she said. “Vietnam is agrowing country. I perceived the optimism of this change.”
The country’s landscape also impressedher.
“I found the nature absolutelyoverwhelming. I saw a great beauty. But I also perceived the danger that thebeauty may be lost,” she said. “The risk exists around the world due to climatechange and pollution.”
Her home
Federici and HCM City-based artist Nguyen DamThuy were strangers to each other but quickly developed a connection, becomingclose friends who inspired each other in their art work.
“I felt like I staying at my homeespecially because my daughter is the same age as Thuy’s twins,” she said. “Iwas welcomed and pampered like an aunt coming from afar; we worked shoulder toshoulder every day.”
Thuy and Federici painted about “home”—aterm that encapsulated their own houses, the house they shared together and theEarth, home to everyone. An exhibition of their works was organised in Hanoiand HCM City last month.
Federici painted what she experienced in Vietnamand the emotions she encountered in each place she visited.
“I painted nature, water and floatinghouses in the Mekong Delta region. I have represented daily life in my works,the simple moments of every day, the warm core around which we gather: home.”
She is planning an exhibition in Milan andRome where she will display the paintings she created in Vietnam.
Painter Thuy said Federici’s journey tookher into the heart of another culture.
“We came to understand each other strangelywell when we joined the Home project,” she said. “At some point we became closeas sisters.”
Thuy said neither woman spoke English -theironly shared language- well, but they communicated with each other through theircreations and shared ideas and emotions as they painted.
“Maybe we are women who always respect theidea of ‘home’, and we are concerned with the environmental issues whichinfluence on the planet – our common house,” Thuy said. - VNA
VNA
