Exhibition on Vietnamese women opens in HCMC

To celebrate Vietnamese Women’s Day on October 20, the Craig Thomas Gallery in District 1, HCMC, is holding an exhibition on Vietnamese women featuring a collection of silk paintings by female artist Nguyen Thi Chau Giang.

A viewer is seen at the Hidden Flowers 2 exhibition – PHOTOS: COURTESY OF ORGANIZER

The HCMC-based artist’s Hidden Flowers 2 collection comprises 22 paintings, which provide a tender view of the special bonds that exist between Vietnamese women that nurture them and help them overcome difficult times.

The majority of the works depict women in groups of two or three, with a focus on the relationships between women and the special bonds they share over generations. The paintings feature lively and vivid colors and a flowery esthetic that adds a great winsomeness to the whole collection.

“Through my painting, viewers can see images of two opposite women: one represents tradition and the other represents modernity, openness and a desire for liberation. These women are conservative, nice and elegant. They are opposite in terms of thoughts and actions but still have a strong connection,” Giang said about her paintings.

Among the paintings, Giang said she has a great depth of feeling for “The Helper”, which has helped her “express the deepest thoughts on motherhood”.

“While creating it I nurtured myself with the thought that ‘You might not be happy being born as a woman but you are happy for sure when you have a mom, whose love and sacrifices are unconditional’. This type of emotion, when you play the role of a child and then of a mom, is very divine, like a miracle,” she noted.

Born in 1975, Giang has been working with silk for more than a decade. Earlier, she was also an acclaimed writer, which is an important factor in her work as a visual artist.

“I think there is a mutual relationship between different areas of creativity. Readers often say that the scenes and characters in my stories are as beautiful and elegant as that of a painting. When I work on paintings, I believe that it is not enough for them to be beautiful to the eye. Each piece needs to have a story behind it to draw viewers’ eyes and to make them think more deeply about the work,” she stated.

The exhibition will go on until November 20.