Visitors view artworks at Cội Nguồn (Origine) exhibition. — VNS Photo Lương Hương

HÀ NỘI — An art exhibition invites viewers to trace their roots and reflect on their inner selves, offering a journey of understanding, acceptance and healing at the Vietnamese Women’s Museum in Hà Nội.

Showcasing artworks by French-Vietnamese artist Van Guillemin, the Cội Nguồn (Origine) exhibition opens up a delicate intersection between the spirit of European art and the emotional depth of the East, all reimagined through the lens of a soul shaped by both French and Vietnamese cultural flows.

The artworks do not tell a fixed story; instead, they suggest multiple layers of meaning, inviting viewers to discover themselves within the empty spaces, in the fluid movements between memory and the present.

Each painting resonates with feminine energy and the power of transformation: wounds become light, loneliness turns into sacred space and longing awakens as a promise. Organic forms emerge and dissolve, drifting between memory and dreams, between presence and absence.

“That is my soul that I offer to you, painted with gentleness and fire,” Guillemin said.

The exhibition is structured into three interconnected parts, each exploring a different stage of an inward emotional journey.

Part one, The Whispers of Memory, introduces the idea that Origine is not geographical but internal. It is where individuals begin to understand where they come from and why the heart trembles the way it does.

The second part, Light from the Wounds, delves into emotional fractures, moments of loneliness and unspoken hurts that are not concealed; they are transformed into light. This section also highlights feminine energy, soft yet unwavering, delicate yet enduring. It is the beauty of the contemporary Vietnamese woman, one who knows how to feel pain, how to love and how to rebirth herself.

The final chapter, Between Presence and Absence, opens into a suspended state, a space where one is no longer bound by past or pain but stands between existence and void, arriving at a deeper, more complete understanding of the self.

The three sections of the Origine exhibition are not separate but form a continuous cycle, from remembrance and healing to understanding. It is a journey of rediscovering the self amid the intersection of cultures and emotions.

Guillemin speaks at the opening ceremony of her exhibition. —Photo courtesy of Vietnamese Women’s Museum

Van Guillemin, born in 1994 in Việt Nam, is a contemporary painter whose work weaves together elements of European Surrealism and American Abstract Expressionism, reimagined through an artistic sensibility shaped by both French and Vietnamese culture.

A self-taught artist, she began by exploring her own instincts, emotions and the unknown within herself. Through experiences across multiple fields, continuous practice and an unwavering creative drive, she has developed a distinctive visual language, fresh, vibrant and unmistakably her own.

Freedom, both in life and in the creative process, remains at the heart of her artistic journey.

Her sources of inspiration include the journey into the self and the many layers of personal memory, the intersection of Eastern and Western cultures, tradition and modernity or contemporary feminine energy, soft yet resilient, introspective yet expansive.

She has exhibited in galleries and museums in France, Italy, Dubai and Vietnam, and her works are part of international private collections. She currently lives and works in Paris, France.

The Origine exhibition runs until April 26. — VNS