Dương Linh Đan's first solo exhibition runs until March 16 at the Vietnamese Women's Museum (VWM) in Hà Nội. Photo VWM

HÀ NỘI — Nearly 30 sơn mài (lacquer) paintings by Dương Linh Đan are on display at the Vietnamese Women’s Museum (VWM) in Hà Nội, exploring inner quiet and emotional sensitivity through the symbolic image of the mimosa plant.

Entitled Chạm Vào Thinh Không (Touching the Silence), it is the first solo exhibition by Linh Đan. Through the traditional medium of lacquer, which is rich in depth and complexity, Linh Đan tells stories of emotion, memory and subtle sensations perceived through the eye and intuition.

As a deaf artist, she does not experience the world through sound in the way many others do. Yet this difference offers her a distinctive lens through which to observe life.

In her paintings, colour, medium and composition become a language that replaces sound, allowing viewers to sense the rhythms of her inner world and the subtle movements of emotion.

At the heart of the exhibition is the mimosa plant. Fragile in appearance yet quietly resilient, the plant serves as a recurring motif in many paintings, symbolising vulnerability, introspection and an enduring inner vitality.

Through this motif, Linh Đan shapes a symbolic vision of womanhood vulnerable to life’s encounters, yet grounded in quiet inner strength and a capacity for renewal.

"The exhibition is a milestone in my artistic journey," said the artist. "Silence is not just the silence of space, but an emotional state in which I listen to the world in my own way.”

"Being deaf has led me to experience the world through a different rhythm. Instead of sound, I pay closer attention to light, colour, the movements of nature and the tactile sensation of materials.

"Over time, these elements have become a source of inspiration for the visual language in my lacquer works.”

One of her favourite paintings is Phồn Sinh (Vitality). It was her graduation thesis, depicting women and nature to express aspiration and vitality, and earned her the highest score in her class.

Linh Đan was born completely healthy, just like other children, and could speak normally. It wasn't until she was three or three and a half years old that her mother felt she might have some hearing difficulties.

By the age of four, she was professionally diagnosed with hearing loss, though she said that in a way, her parents had sensed it before the diagnosis.

Currently a freelance artist, Linh Đan graduated top of her class with a major in lacquer art from the Painting Department at the Việt Nam University of Fine Arts in 2023. In her third year, she was one of only two students selected for the first Talented Lacquer Training Programme at the university.

She has participated in group exhibitions in Hà Nội and has won several awards, including a special prize at a contest held by UNESCO and the Hà Nội authorities and second place in a contest held by Pan Pacific Hanoi and Singapore. — VNS