Female documentary filmmaker and award-winning author Xuân Phượng releases her new memoir Khắc Đi…Khắc Đến (Letting Go of the Old, Embracing the New), featuring her 30-year journey to bring Vietnamese fine arts to the world. Photo courtesy of the publisher

HCM CITY – New memoir Khắc Đi…Khắc Đến (Letting Go of the Old, Embracing the New) by female documentary filmmaker and award-winning author Xuân Phượng has been released in HCM City.

The 226-page book features the 95-year-old Phượng’s journey to bring Vietnamese fine arts to the world since she established Lotus Gallery, one of the very first private galleries in the city, in 1991.

The gallery has displayed numerous artworks, including paintings, drawings, sculptures, and photography by emerging and established Vietnamese and Southeast Asian artists. It has also held hundreds of both domestic and international exhibitions. 

After 30 years of promoting Vietnamese fine arts, Phượng decided to retire.

The memoir tells stories of the gallery's early days and her overseas trips with friends and partners to bring Vietnamese artworks to exhibit in Asia, Europe, and America. 

Author Bích Ngân, chairwoman of the city Writers’ Association, said at the book introduction on Tuesday that the memoir Khắc Đi…Khắc Đến let readers know about Phượng’s journey to bring Vietnamese culture and artworks to the world.

Ngân added that as a filmmaker, a writer, and an art collector, Phượng’s life was full of twists and turns, reflecting the beautiful colours of passion, love, happiness, and sadness in human life.

Phượng quit school to join the resistance in Huế City in 1945.

She served as a dynamite maker and a doctor, before being assigned by President Hồ Chí Minh to become an interpreter and guide to foreign journalists and filmmakers in 1967.

In 1968, she became a documentary director and war correspondent for the Television Department (now Việt Nam Television).

She has made a series of documentaries about the country’s historical events such as Khi Tiếng Súng Vừa Tắt (When Gun Sound Ends) (1975), Khi Những Nụ Cười Trở Lại (When Smiles Return) (1976), and Hai Tiếng Quê Hương (My Homeland) (1978).

In 2011, she was conferred the Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur (National Order of the Legion of Honour), the highest French order of merit, both military and civil, for her contributions to developing Việt Nam - France relations.

Phượng released her first memoir Gánh Gánh…Gồng Gồng… (Burden of Life), which includes stories about the ups and downs of her life since 1945, in 2020.

The work won awards for best literary work by the Việt Nam Writers’ Association, and the HCM City Writers’ Association.

Khắc Đi…Khắc Đến is published by the HCM City General Publishing House and is available at bookstores nationwide and on e-commercial platforms.— VNS