Travelogue of Vietnam through the paintings of a French artist.

"The Sparrow's Journey" - a 40-page picture book, completed over three years, is a gift that French artist Olivier Blanchin wants to send to Vietnam, the country he has been connected to for the past seven years.

Sharing with reporters about his connection with Vietnam, Olivier Blanchin said that in 2018, he came to Vietnam to participate in an artist residency program at an eco-friendly space. During that time, he spent time exploring Hanoi and became very fond of the city. He was captivated by the architecture, the urban landscape, and the bustling atmosphere. Most of the people he met everywhere in this country welcomed him with a very warm and honest attitude, especially whenever he encountered traffic problems or got lost.

French artist Olivier Blanchin (left). (Photo: Nhan Dan Newspaper)

All of that spurred Blanchin to want to learn more about and explore Vietnam. He planned to visit all the famous regions, traveling from North to South, through Central Vietnam, and to the remote areas of the Central Highlands. Along this journey, he nurtured the project of publishing a book, "Sparrow's Travelogue," to tell a story about Vietnam to foreign readers in general and in France in particular.

The story follows Momo, a young sparrow living in Hanoi, as she welcomes her cousin Nino, who lives in France, back to Vietnam to meet relatives and explore their homeland by motorbike. After Momo takes Nino on a tour of Hanoi, they meet family members before traveling across Vietnam, passing through many famous tourist provinces and cities such as Ninh Binh, Da Nang, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen , Da Lat (Lam Dong)... and finally stopping in Ho Chi Minh City. There, the two sparrows continue exploring the city before returning to Hanoi by train to celebrate the New Year with their family and relatives.

Images of Vietnam in the book "Sparrow's Travelogue".

According to Blanchin, the book is structured in the "search and find" genre for children, which is very popular in the West. It trains children's observation skills, descriptive abilities, and reasoning skills. Because it's a picture book about landscapes, the narrative is concise, offering clues to help readers find details about the two sparrows, Momo and Nino, in each drawing. These small details are embedded to motivate children to explore and find the two sparrows in the pictures.

"This book is primarily for children, so I wanted to keep things relatively simple. Children will also enjoy looking at landscapes more than content about food or culture. However, the book isn't just for boys and girls; I want the world in general, and the French in particular, to see a Vietnam that is developing strongly, is very dynamic, and yet also very peaceful today," Blanchin said.

Blanchin hopes to publish even more books in the future, on a wider range of topics and for a broader audience in Vietnam and around the world.

Source: https://thoidai.com.vn/du-ky-viet-nam-qua-nhung-buc-tranh-cua-hoa-si-phap-210582.html