2020 – Oil on linen – 130cm x 100cm

Model: Yvy (nickname)

Private collection.

Suý Vân is the female protagonist in Kim Nham, a classic traditional Vietnamese chèo opera. She pretends to be insane in order to escape a deadlocked marriage. But Suý Vân’s new lover – the man for whom she has sacrificed everything and run away with – is “Sở Khanh” – a notorious playboy who soon abandons her as well. Having lost everything, Suý Vân becomes insane once again, but this time her madness is real. She eventually takes her own life.

Over the course of hundreds of years, the figure of Suý Vân has been perceived and interpreted by the public from very different perspectives. Those living within a Confucian social framework have regarded Suý Vân as an antagonist—a woman who violated every principle of conduct to which a virtuous woman was expected to submit. Others, however, see in Suý Vân a form of female empowerment: a woman willing to struggle and sacrifice for her right to love.

This painting belongs to two series: Tích Xưa Kể Lại (Old Stories Retold) and Bất Động Sản (Real Estate). During this period of my practice, I observed the transformation of lived environments and rural areas undergoing rapid urbanisation. Alongside changes in infrastructure came shifts in culture and transformations in human lives and destinies. For me, Suý Vân once again becomes a representative figure for those living through such transformations. Whether they wish to or not, they are swept into the process of change, compelled to make choices, and may ultimately have to pay the price for those choices.