Chu works on a painting.

LookAtVietnam Bridge - At 73, Tran Huu Chu is a quiet man, an aged farmer with skin wrinkled and worn from long hours in the sun, his hands rough and creased with lines deep as rivers. He is not the picture of an artist, but the people of Huynh Cong Tay Village in Quang Tri Province will tell you otherwise. They know that Chu is, first and foremost, a painter.

For 10 years, Chu has spent all his spare time sketching and painting. Though none of his works has ever been sold or professionally exhibited, both locals and tourists increasingly come to witness Vietnamese folk tales Chu brings to life.

All of his 100 pictures illustrate Chuyen Trang, or Tales of Trang, the series of folk tales unique to his village.

Lost culture

Chu’s village is a poor one, nestled in Vinh Linh District of Quang Tri Province, and yet this modest place has garnered nationwide attention as the home of the Tales of Trang.

Like most folk tales, these are stories about everyday life. They have been passed from generation to generation to encourage optimism and help people endure the hardships of life.

Though the Tales of Trang in Huynh Cong Tay, often referred to as Tales of Trang Vinh Hoang, are merely a variant of folk tales common across Viet Nam, they are still some of the most famous, clearly dating back at least 300 years. Researchers see the stories as precious literature, national cultural heritage of invaluable import.

There are hundreds of tales in the collection, some of which are better known such as: Ca Do Bay Mon (Seven Kinds of Dishes), Cay Ot Lam Du Mot Ngoi Nha (A Chilli Plant Big Enough to Build a House), and Cu Mi Dai Den Hai Huyen (A Cassava the Length of Two Districts).

Yet despite their fame, these priceless pieces of culture are on the brink of disappearing.

The more developed the society, the less interested in traditional cultures are the people, especially the young, Chu explained.

He said that although books recording the folk tales had been published, they didn’t attract a young readership.

"Children prefer watching movies on TV and doing other modern things adopted from foreign countries," he lamented.

This realisation troubled Chu for a very long time, until he discovered his own way to preserve the stories he had come to know and cherish as a young boy: he began using paint to transform the words of those tales into something equally rich.

Never properly schooled in painting, his work has a simplicity that complements the original content and structure of the tales. After buying an easel, paints, and a meagre brush, he began using wall-calendars as canvases. Every night, after a long day of farming, he would take up his brush and work until very late.

For someone lacking in training and with only developing skills, the work was no easy task. He spent many hours trying to conceptualise the work before even selecting his canvas.

The difficulty in drawing these kinds of pictures was as much about figuring out how to visually capture the essence of the tales as it was about summarising the details, he said.

In some instances, he simplified the details or even changed them to suit his imagination.

For example, the people of Huynh Cong Tay have a story about sweet potatoes that were so big it took 5 pots to cook just one. In the end, one person tries to eat the whole potato and it lodges in his throat, forcing him to go to hospital because it is so large.

In Chu’s rendition of the story, a person is embracing a column of a house, craning his neck to swallow the bulk of sweet potato, but his eyes are full of the pride and happiness he takes in having produced something so good.

"By changing the content slightly, I think the tales are renewed, becoming more visual and attractive to more people," he said.

Words into pictures

In 1997, he finished his first picture based on the tale Bat Nham Cop Ma Cay about wrongly catching a tiger to plough a field.

Chu gave it as a present to the meeting-hall of the village, and the village’s cultural official, finding merit in it, hung it on the wall. Much to Chu’s surprise, the village was immediately taken with his image, which so perfectly captured the oral tradition they had long heard. Some older men even argued it was more interesting than the original tale.

Some children saw the painting and then insisted their parents tell them the tale on which it was based. Subsequently, the commune’s Vinh Tu Primary School invited Chu to the school to show the students how to paint and educate them about the traditions of the village.

"I didn’t expect to have such an impact," Chu said, reflecting on the happiness of those early moments of recognition.

He said such a response proved a major motivator for him to continue with his work.

Cash not accepted

Knowing Chu and recognising the value of his work, many people have asked to buy his pictures to both help him earn money and encourage him to continue.

Chu refuses. After drawing a picture, he rolls it up, keeps it carefully in his chest, and will give it to anyone who wants it.

Having finally amassed a series of 100 pictures, Chu is dreaming of completing a picture collection of all the tales, to be displayed on the walls of a specially built museum that is free and open to everyone. He hopes that it will help preserve the town culture and serve as an attraction for tourists.

Though he is an old farmer with many responsibilities, Chu has been determined to make the project happen.

Apparently, his efforts have convinced others that his work should be made public.

Hoang Da Huong, the commune’s cultural official, said the commune planned to appeal for money to print a book of his pictures this year.

(Source: VNS)