Living between two cultures

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This is a fantastic opportunity to meet a Vietnamese Belgian who speaks with such a perfect Southern accent like you do! Can you tell us about your background?

My father came to Belgium in 1964 and worked as a computer engineer. My mother arrived a few years later, she learned silk-screen printing but followed my father’s profession. I was born and raised in Belgium, however, my family always spoke Vietnamese at home. Since I was a kid, every Saturday, my parents would open a Vietnamese teaching class to teach children to read and speak Vietnamese. I am very glad that I got to keep my mother tongue and can still communicate with many Vietnamese. Many people said that my accent is “typical Southern” because my father’s hometown is Ho Chi Minh City and mother’s is in Bien Hoa, Dong Nai. Nevertheless, I still need to learn more to be able to speak like a real Vietnamese.

Artist Truong Minh Thy Nguyen performing street art. (Photo: TGVN)

Your parents are computer engineers, why is it you chose to follow an artistic path?

I studied to become a website developer but later on I took a course at a school of art – the Graphic Research School of Brussels. I studied painting and graphic design, and I chose to become a freelance artist because I realised this was my true passion.

You have organised a few projects and art exhibitions in Vietnam such as “Alphabet of Saigon” and “La Centrifugeuse”. Can you tell us why you choose to come back home to continue your artistic path?

The reason is simple – because I love Vietnam and our culture. I started visiting my hometown when I was 6, and every time I got carried away with the dazzling landscapes, as well as the happiness on seeing my relatives. When back in Belgium, my parents used to tell me stories of their home and how they missed it. In recent years, our family has had more opportunities and resources to visit Vietnam more often.

I think that Vietnam has great potential in the art industry, even more so than in Belgium. I can see that the young Vietnamese generation is very talented, creative and dynamic. I came back home with many collaborative art projects with the purpose of connecting to my home country and sharing my professional expertise.

What was the idea behind your installation art project "Enthusiastic transformation" in Ha Noi with two French artists, Pierre Larauza and Emmanuelle Vincent? It seems that the main content of your artwork is the mixture of culture and urban transformation?

In this project, we want to portray a poetic representation of life, which shows the interplay between tradition and modernity. It represents the changes that big cities in Vietnam are experiencing with optimism and a playful, witty attitude.

It can be said "Enthusiastic transformation" evokes a poetic image of Vietnam in a period of strong development through painting, dance and installation art. I personally find this transformation extremely rapid. Every time I return home I see something new and want to express that in my art.

For example, I used the image of a big shrimp to symbolise the future of the city with fullness and prosperity. In my work, people will see the contrast between humanity and that big shrimp. They are surprised and a bit scared of its size, but everyone wants to taste it.

What are your future plans?

In the near future, we will display this project at theaters in Ho Chi Minh City and Singapore. From October, I will teach at the University of Fine Arts of Ho Chi Minh City. After that, I will continue to travel between Belgium and Vietnam and would like to have more exchange projects with Vietnamese artists to experience and learn more about the culture of my homeland.

In these projects, your partner has always been your wife – a French choreographer who lives in Belgium but also loves Vietnamese culture, is that correct?

Right! My wife is Choreographer Emmanuelle Vincent - one of the two members of the T.r.a.n.s.i.t.s.c.a.p.e dance company. We started joint art programs together under the support of Federal Minister of Wallonie-Brussels.

We held our wedding in Bien Hoa, my mother’s hometown. My wife has always wanted to know more about Vietnamese culture. It is wonderful that she can cook Vietnamese dishes well and even dance traditional Vietnamese dances. In Belgium, we also participate in the Truong Son art group of the Vietnamese Association. It can be said that we always live with and mix ourselves in the two cultures.

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