Travelogue of Vietnam through drawings - Lang Son Newspaper

The picture book, only 40 pages long, has a simple content and concise text, yet "The Sparrow's Journey" is a very special gift that artist Olivier Blanchin wants to send to Vietnam, the country he has been connected to for the past 7 years. Taking 3 years to complete, "The Sparrow's Journey" is not just for 5- and 6-year-olds, as Blanchin shared, but through this book, he wants the world in general, and the French people in particular, to see a Vietnam that is developing strongly, dynamically, and yet peacefully today.

Artist Olivier Blanchin and Comicola Company Director Nguyen Khanh Duong.

A Frenchman who loves Hanoi.

Blanchin was born in southern France, into an artistic environment where both his parents were visual artists. His homeland is also beautiful. From the Mediterranean Sea to the Pyrenees, across sprawling vineyards, lavender fields, or sunflower paddies, southern France has it all. Visitors will also find sheer cliffs concealing charming villages bathed in sunshine. The painter Van Gogh created his work "Le Sud" (The South) during his time in southern France, seeking the warmth of the climate, the vibrant colors, and the inspiration for his post-impressionist paintings.

In fact, Vietnam and Hanoi entered Blanchin's life quite by chance. In 2018, Blanchin came to Vietnam and planned to participate in an artist residency program at an eco-space. However, things didn't go as planned. During that time, he spent time exploring Hanoi and became very fond of the city. He was captivated by its architecture, urban landscape, and bustling atmosphere. In his opinion, Hanoi is truly a unique city in that sense.

He found it fascinating to observe the remnants of old French-style architecture combined with modern construction projects and the development of a rapidly transforming nation. Before that, in his mind, and in the minds of many who had never been here, Vietnam was associated with war and the suffering that the nation endured under French colonial rule and American imperialism.

Of course, Blanchin didn't necessarily like everything about Vietnam, or Hanoi, but he liked the city's simplicity, the vibrancy of everyday life, a stark contrast to the complexity of French society, which he felt he didn't fit into. Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and social distancing measures only reinforced Blanchin's realization of how much he loved Hanoi and Vietnam.

The people he met everywhere in this land mostly welcomed him with great warmth and honesty, especially when he had car problems or got lost. And one thing that never ceased to amaze Blanchin was the strength of Vietnamese women: on construction sites, in the fields, or simply women raising children alone while running a business.

That tranquility spurred Blanchin to explore Vietnam further. He planned to visit all its famous destinations. He often preferred traveling by train, enjoying the slow pace. He traveled on and on, from north to south, through central Vietnam and the remote regions of the Central Highlands, but Hanoi remained the final destination for the 42-year-old French artist. The reason was simple: he met and married Hanh, a Vietnamese woman working in logistics. They had a child over three years old, and now, his love for children, his passion for painting and education , fueled his creativity.

A dynamic Vietnam through the art of drawing.

Blanchin confided that if he weren't drawing and had completely free time, he would like to start some projects about ecological and environmental protection. Simply put, such projects would be educational because he loves children and wants to share his knowledge with them. In fact, through the detailed, crowd-style drawings in "The Sparrow's Journey," Blanchin is also guiding preschool children towards observation, description, and the development of critical thinking and quick reflexes.

Therefore, "Sparrow's Journey" may only be 40 pages long, with simple content, but each page contains thousands of detailed drawings and hundreds of characters. The story tells of Momo, a young sparrow living in Hanoi, welcoming her cousin Nino, who lives in France, back to Vietnam to meet relatives and embark on a journey to explore her homeland by motorbike.

After Momo took Nino on a tour of Hanoi, they met up with 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 continued exploring the city before returning to Hanoi by train to celebrate the New Year with their family and relatives.

According to Blanchin, his initial idea was to publish a picture book in France, so he planned to tell a story about Vietnam to foreign readers in general and French readers in particular. However, just as his connection with Vietnam happened by chance, "Sparrow's Journey" was born completely differently from Blanchin's plans. Because he didn't choose France to publish the book, the content had to be changed to suit the Vietnamese market. Furthermore, many of his ideas were not included in the book, especially when he wanted to build the content around the popular "search-and-see" books for children in the West. All of this forced Blanchin to simplify the story as well as his own research and interesting discoveries about Vietnam.

It's worth mentioning the "search and find" genre of books, which are very popular with children abroad, and Vietnamese children are also familiar with books like "I Spy" or "Where Is Wally" for learning English and having fun at the elementary school level. These books train children's observation skills, descriptive abilities, and reasoning skills. For example, "Where Is Wally" features a series of detailed illustrations across two pages, depicting dozens or more people doing various interesting things at a specific location.

Readers are challenged to find a character named Wally (or Waldo) and his friends hidden within the pages. Similarly, Blanchin's "The Sparrow's Journey" offers an engaging and captivating experience with its small details, motivating children to explore and search for the two sparrows in the picture.

Because it's a picture book about landscapes, the narrative is concise, offering some hints to help readers find details about the two sparrows, Momo and Nino, in each drawing. According to Blanchin, this book is primarily for children, so he wanted to keep things relatively simple. Children will also enjoy looking at landscapes more than content about food or culture.

Nevertheless, beyond being a typical children's "exploration" landscape picture book, "The Sparrow's Journey" is a special gift Blanchin dedicated to his second homeland. Otherwise, how could he have understood the meaning of the familiar old saying "golden forests, silver seas" and expressed it so clearly on the book cover, with the sea on one side of Momo and Nino's exploration path and the forests and developed cities on the other?

The artist, born in 1983, confided that he wants to publish more books on various topics in Vietnam, not just because he is the first foreign author to collaborate with Comicola Joint Stock Company, which operates in the entertainment and publishing industry for Vietnamese authors' cultural entertainment products, to publish "Sparrow's Journey." According to Mr. Nguyen Khanh Duong, the founder and director of Comicola Company, they have discussed plans with Blanchin, possibly publishing another travelogue or a project combining comics and music after the successful launch of "Sparrow's Journey" at the 2025 Book Street Festival.

Source: https://baolangson.vn/du-ky-viet-nam-qua-tranh-ve-5039595.html