LA BAY LA - Vietnam of an old acquaintance

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LA BAY LA (Vietnam of an old acquaintance)

Vietnam (Việt Nam) is a great place to live, a great country with folk culture, uncountable cultural heritages and specificities. However, our national, cultural identity are still sometimes unrecognized by young Vietnamese people.

I, as a young graphic designer, want to do something to raise awareness of the young generation that Vietnam, our hometown, still have a lot of beautiful things to know about. And visual art is always a not so easy but strong tool to deliver this message. As a result, "La Bay La" comes as a 12 posters collection, telling specific, different story about Vietnam, that you may somehow know, be acquainted through daily life.

As its name - La Bay La - Vietnam of an old acquaintance, it's a pleasure that when you put your eyes around this collection - you may get some acquaintances of your own stories, own feeling, own memories about Vietnam.

Footage Credit:
Raw Vietnam footage by Videvo
Raw Jabiru footage by Nguyễn Pi (on Youtube)

Music Credit:
Cò Lả - Yến Lê, Yanbi
Far Away - Wes Park

Artwork 01 - Cò Lả

"Con cò bay là cò bay lả, lả bay la"

This is the folk song's sentence, also the inpiration of Lả Bay La collection. In daily life, sometimes, you may hear of something so acquainted, but you do not event know where the feeling comes from. That's because you live in and love you country, your hometown, passively.

Cò or Jabiru is a traditional animal in Vietnam. In folk culture, they represent women, especially ones with struggle life.

Artwork 02 - Hát Bội

Hát Bội is such an important, special traditional Vietnamese performing art. Stories in Hát Bội tend to be ostensibly historical and frequently focus on the rules of social decorum, and can include legends from Vietnam history.

In Hát Bội, characters can be recognized from their make-up and costumes. Especially, character's personalities can be revealed through some features: the color of the face, the eyebrows, and the beard.

Artwork 03 - An Nghê

"Nghê" is a mythological animal of Vietnam folk culture, and also in spiritual tradition. This animal is believed to bring safe and peaceful life to everyone. So they are often placed in front of temple, as the protectors.

Artwork 04 - Canh Tam

"Canh tam" is a short Vietnamese term that can be defined as 23:00 to 1:00 in the morning. Those days, young people usually have a habit of staying up late, and sometimes, sound of the chicken raised when they are still on working.

Artwork 05 - Chút Chít

In Vietnam, it's currently the lunar year of the rat. Mouse, or rat, takes a important role in Vietnamese folk culture.

Coming to Vietnam, you may sometimes here this folk sentence

"Cháy nhà mới lòi mặt chuột"

Artwork 06 - Lạc Đình

In Vietnam, Lạc is a legendary, a mythological animal which appear in the many heritages of Vietnam like Dong Son drum, or Vietnam folk story.

Beside Rồng (dragon), Lạc is also considers as the predecessor of Vietnamese people.

Artwork 07 - Yên Phụng

Like Nghê, Phụng (Fenghuang/Phoenix) is a mythological animal of Vietnam culture. Spritually, Phụng is also one of Four Benevolent Animals which consist of: Long (Dragon), Lân (Quilin), Quy (Turtle), Phụng (Fenghuang).

It's believed that Phụng can bring happiness and gathered family.

"Ngày xuân Long Phụng sum vầy"

Artwork 08 - Chuồn Chuồn Tre

Chuồn chuồn tre (Dragonfly made with bamboo) is a traditional toy of Vietnam. This toy can be easily found on street, road side of Vietnam.

This dragonfly toy can stay balance on your finger, which is very interesting and impressive.

Artwork 09 - Tò He

Tò He is a colorful Vietnamese traditional toy. With clay, the Tò He artist can make a lot of shape of Tò He animal and represent each animal personalities - fun, happy, usually positive.

Artwork 10 - Quốc Ca

The Vietnamese National song is a song that Vietnamese all remember by heart. We love it, but when it comes to national song visual? We still do not have one. So I decided to make a poster that may represent Vietnamese National Song, playing with the music notes.

Artwork 11 - Sen

"Trong đầm gì đẹp bằng sen, lá xanh bông trắng lại chen nhuỵ vàng"

Sen (Lotus) is a Vietnamese national flower. In my memory, Sen of Vietnam is a really royal and beautiful flower, despite of its habitat. So I decided to make a comparison between Sen (Lotus) and Công (Peacock), which is a cannot-denied beautiful bird in not only Vietnam but also national.

Artwork 12 - Khung Cửa

"Khung cửa" or door, window grill in each country has their own characteristic. In Vietnam, window grill has created a pattern that can make anybody coming to Vietnam remember. With me, window grill or Vietnam window pattern is always an important thing to make inspiration of.