Landscapes and heritage of Morocco and Viet Nam are featured at an exhibition by artist Naima R Deniale, the wife of the Moroccan Ambassador to Viet Nam.

Festive fruit: Naima Deniale's painting of kumquat, a symbol of the traditional Lunar New Year in Viet Nam.

The exhibition includes 28 lacquer and acrylic paintings that reveal a cross-culture glimpse of Moroccan and Vietnamese experiences. They reflect the artist's feelings and her admiration for the culture, the landscapes and the people of Viet Nam.

"My stay in this beautiful country has been, for me, a blooming artistic period full of new experiences, emotions and wonders which inspired and nurtured my works," Deniale said.

"This exhibition is an act of love for the refined culture of Viet Nam and its people who engraved in my memories and my heart their daily lives, their representations and their generosity."

She added, "Through the exhibition, I invite visitors to a journey from the perception of my soul and heart. This is what I imagine, what I feel and love, and sometimes what I learned and exchanged during my stay in Viet Nam for nearly 10 years. For me, painting is meditation and relaxation."

Deniale also displays many paintings of Morocco.

"Ambling along the bustling old streets of Ha Noi has always reminded me of the cities like Fes, Rabat, Marrakech and provided me with great energy and inspiration," she said.

Before, Deniale was an artist of silk paintings and embroidery paintings. But when she came to Viet Nam, she took an interest in lacquer, a unique material in Vietnamese fine arts. She has spent five years learning lacquer with painters Le Kim My and Nguyen Thi Lan Huong.

The exhibition will run for four months at the Viet Nam Museum of Ethnology, Nguyen Van Huyen Street, Ha Noi.

VNS