CHI L. NGUYỄN

PAINTINGS & DRAWINGS
As Roots to Trees, as Sea to Streams (Part 2)A Betel QuidWhite Jade Orchid
As Roots to Trees, as Sea to Streams (Part 1) Cerulean BlueGrandma’s GardenFather’s Rose
The Gardener
Fireflies
New-lake-land Letters to My FatherINSTALLATIONS & OTHERS
Good Luck, Here Comes Infinity

INFO
CONTACT


       

      As Roots to Trees, as Sea to Streams (Part 2)







      White Jade Orchid (left) & A Betel Quid (right), 2025
      Acrylic, soil pigment & gold pigment on paper      in hand-carved wooden frame23.8 x 36 cm



      These two stamp-like paintings belong to the Part 2 of my ongoing painting series titled ‘As Roots to Trees, as Sea to Streams’ . The series title came from the proverb ‘Như cây có cội, như sông có nguồn’, implying the Vietnamese tradition of memorizing one’s ancestors and lineage.

      In 2024, my beloved 96-year-old grandmother(*) had a severe brain stroke. After that incident, her health seriously declined, in which she is no longer conscious. Long ago, I wish to one day have a proper conversation with her, to learn about her prolific career as a writer and a tireless advocate for women, as well as to know more about other female activists of her time. However, due to her unconscious and fragile state after the stroke, I cannot realize that wish.

      I went through her writing archive, collected fragments of her career through other authors’ or the archive of her previous ‘Phụ Nữ Thủ Đô’ editorial office, as well as through our family archive & loving memories about her. ‘A Betel Quid’ & ‘White Jade Orchid’ are as mementos. They weave in extracts from my grandmother’s poems and Hồ Xuân Hương’s poem, resisting linear narrative, yet an effort of memorizing the life and minds of the women I admire.


      ----------------

      (*) Lý Thị Trung (pen name of Nguyễn Thị Minh Ngọ) joined the Việt Minh resistance at sixteen and was among the first female journalists trained at Trường Báo chí Huỳnh Thúc Kháng, the first formal journalism school of the Vietnamese revolution, established in 1949. At the start of Đổi Mới (Renovation) in 1986, Lý Thị Trung was appointed one of the editor-in-chief of Báo Phụ Nữ Thủ Đô. A writer, poet, and member of the Vietnam Writers Association, she devoted her prolific career—spanning over six decades—to social issues, gender equality, women’s roles, and patriotism.

      See: Văn Ngọc Thủy, “Nhà báo Lý Thị Trung và hành trình thắp lên ánh lửa,” Hà Nội Mới, 18 June 2025. https://hanoimoi.vn/nha-bao-ly-thi-trung-va-hanh-trinh-thap-len-anh-lua-706010.html, (accessed 21 August 2025).