Twelve year old girl wins top prize in environment painting contest

 

Tran Truc Linh, a twelve-year old girl from Ho Chi Minh city was awarded the first prize in the painting contest entitled ‘Bau Vat Rung Xanh’ (Jungle Treasure) at an awards ceremony held on June 1 in Ho Chi Minh City.

 

The winning painting named ‘People are Friends of the One-Horned Rhinoceros, is inspired by the death of a one-horned rhino that was shot in the leg in Cat Tien National Park last year. Through the painting, Linh wants to call on people, and especially children, to join hands to protect the rhino and other animals.

 

The contest which was launched by Wildlife at Risk (WAR) in collaboration with the Khan Quang Do (Red Scarf) newspaper in March to mark World Environment Day (June 5) received more than 1,000 paintings from children nationwide.

 

Vietnamese culture in Belgian eyes

 

A documentary film named, “A different Vietnam” by Belgian film-maker Marcel Wynands was screened at the Lakilon Cultural Centre in Liege city, Belgium on June 1, opening Vietnamese Culture Week in the city.

 

The film features Vietnam’s diversified culture through a vision of the daily life of ethnic minority people in the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang, from paddy fields to market days and local people’s traditional clothes.

 

Marcel Wynands said he and his film-making delegation spent eight days completing the documentary in the northernmost province.

 

Prior to the screening, an exhibition displaying 30 paintings by Overseas Vietnamese artists was staged.

 

Vietnam civilization depicted in book

 

A book about the material civilization of the Vietnamese people, by painter and fine arts researcher Phan Cam Thuong, has been made available to readers in Hanoi.

 

Entitled Van Minh Vat Chat Cua Nguoi Viet (Material Civilization of Vietnamese People), the book is the product of Thuong’s 20 years of research and six years of writing. The completed book has 664 pages.

 

With 959 photos and 505 illustrations, the book features stories about several objects made and used by the Vietnamese people.

 

Humans have created a material world and continue to shape this world, said the author. The material civilization of objects plays a significant role in the human development process.

 

To collect the necessary material for the book, Thuong conducted several field studies in different regions across the country. He travelled from the northern Red River Delta, to the central and southern regions. He also visited China, Japan and the US for his research.

 

A peek into Indochina ethnic societies

 

A exhibition of photographs depicting the daily life and cultural activities of ethnic minority peoples in Indochina opens in the central city of Hue Sunday.

 

“Faces of Asian ethnic groups” will feature black and white photos taken by French photographer Sébastien Laval in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue, Cambodia’s Siem Riep, and Luang Prabang in Laos.

 

They include portraits of ethnic people and reflect their traditional customs and changes in their lives. Many of them will be untitled, allowing viewers to draw their own conclusions and figure out the differences between the three locations.

 

Sébastien Laval arrived in Vietnam for the first time in 1995. Most of his photos are about Vietnamese ethnic minorities, and he is currently involved in a project to publish a photo book featuring the country’s 54 minorities.

 

The exhibition at New Space Arts Foundation, 15 Le Loi Street, will run until July 7.

 

PV