Father’s Rose
Father’s Rose, 2025
Acrylic & soil pigment on paper in hand-carved wooden frame
36 x 23.8 cm
Photo
SUCHSIZE / Yukawa Nakayasu
The first part of the stamp painting series 'As roots to trees, as sea to streams', whose title stems from a Vietnamese proverb and the practice of honoring family history, is greatly inspired by my grandmother, the array of characters surrounding her and sometimes hidden corners of their lives. Instead of the usual motifs of celebrated public figures, world heritage sites, plants, or extinct animals found in Vietnamese stamps, the first part of the series seek to preserve personal and familial narratives.
Here, using soil pigment, I portrayed one of my grandfathers in his younger days, back when he used 'Hoa Hồng' (or Rose) as one of his pen names. During the many years he worked far from home, amidst hardships, he found great strength in thinking of his children and often drew them from memory in his letters.