WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 2017
lifestyle
F E A T U R E S
Men sitting in an alley filled with graffiti in Ho Chi Minh City.
A motorcyclist riding past a work of graffiti at "3A Station", a graffiti hub and street art area in Ho Chi Minh City.
Taggers' delight: Vietnam
city turns into graffiti canvas
S
Dan Nguyen, a California-born Vietnamese artist who moved to Ho Chi Minh City about
five years ago, working on his graffiti at "3A Station", a graffiti hub and street art area in
Ho Chi Minh City.
Nguyen Nhu Huy, an independent curator, speaking during an interview with AFP at his
home workshop in Ho Chi Minh City.
Dan Nguyen, a California-born Vietnamese artist who moved to Ho Chi Minh City about
five years ago, working on his graffiti at "3A Station", a graffiti hub and street art area in
Ho Chi Minh City.
A motorcyclist riding along an alley with graffiti in Ho Chi Minh City.
hrouded by fumes and surrounded by spray cans,
Vietnamese graffiti artist Kong conjures his latest masterpiece, a monkey clutching an aerosol, a colorsplashed act of rebellion in a communist country where the
youth are expected to follow strict social mores. "Young people want to break the rules," said the 21-year-old, his fingers
speckled with paint. "We want to see more interesting things
on the street or on the wall, so we do graffiti to express ourselves." Kong belongs to the growing ranks of graffiti artists in
Ho Chi Minh City, where subcultures-BMX biking, skateboarding and breakdancing-jostle for space on the hipster scene.
For many the spray can is a tool of rebellion-illicit spraypainting is a way of defying restrictions in an authoritarian
country where artists must have their work approved before
exhibitions, shows are routinely shut down, and works
deemed controversial are replaced by a black 'X' on gallery
walls. But Kong knows better than to dabble in politics, opting instead to paint playful images less likely to incur the
wrath of censors in the authoritarian nation.
Yet many artists like him believe there is something
almost political in the very act of spraying a wall-and rejecting parents' expectations to find a stable job. Kong fell into
graffiti as a teenager, bored with online gaming and looking
for a creative outlet. But his parents didn't approve, hoping
instead he might find a steady office job. "They still don't like
it... they think it's a dangerous game and it's bad for my
health because of the spray paint," he said with a chuckle.
From colonial to cool
Ho Chi Minh City is now a graffiti hotspot, thanks to pioneering artists-both local and foreign-eager to fill blank wall
space. "It has become a part of Saigon, you can't imagine
Saigon without graffiti," said independent curator Nguyen
Nhu Huy, using the city's former French colonial name. Today,
the city has several hubs for graffiti and street art, such as '3A
Station', a collection of colonial buildings that were reportedly occupied by the CIA during the Vietnam War.
The walls are bursting with color and plastered with artincluding Kong's wide-eyed primate and a massive rooster
wearing sunglasses-luring tourists taking Instagram-worthy
selfies. Though not technically allowed, police tend to turn a
blind eye. And residents have come to love the free art for
the most part, said Danny Daos, a local graffiti artist. "The
government doesn't like us... They (used to say) that we
make the walls dirty, but the people like us so we do our
graffiti," he said.
Building bonanza
Yet even some seemingly tame images have been subject
to vandalism. One mural promoting environmental safety was
defaced in the central city of Danang, though the artist doesn't
know who took issue with it. Acts like these may deepen the
reluctance of some young artists to take on controversial topics. "In school they've been taught how to think and what to
think, so I think there's some ingrained censorship for sure,"
said Dan Nguyen, a California-born Vietnamese artist and DJ
who moved to Ho Chi Minh City about five years ago. But perhaps the biggest threat to the artwork today is a construction
boom, which some public pieces have already fallen victim to.
"Now the city is growing up, development with a lot of
building, a lot of security, so it's really hard for us to paint
masterpieces," said Daos. Hemmed in by towering high-rises
on all sides, the colonial properties home to '3A Station' have
been sold to developers hungry to get their hands on the
valuable downtown land. Occupants have been told it will be
demolished within weeks. Though heartbroken, 3A's coordinator Mai Do believes Ho Chi Minh's graffiti culture will grow,
even after her space is gone, as artists are finding new spots
showcase their work. She added: "That's a good way for
them to survive." — AFP
Visitors walking next to graffiti at “3A Station”, a graffiti hub and street art
area in Ho Chi Minh City.
A graffiti artist and vendor
of spray cans, posing in
front of a portrait of US
rapper Ice Cube at his
home workshop in Ho Chi
Minh City. — AFP photos
A graffiti artist and vendor of spray cans, speaking at his home workshop
in Ho Chi Minh City.
Danny Daos, a graffiti “writer”, drawing at his shop in Ho Chi Minh City.