Luan Nguyen’s practice reflects his experience of living between cultures and dialects, exploring the nuances of the diaspora. Through technical distortion and visual blurring on linen, he suggests that a specific kind of truth resides within ambiguity, capturing the shifting nature of identity and memory across shifting borders.
This painting takes inspiration from Vietnamese folk poetry (Ca Dao), recounting the narrative of a man who claims to have left his shirt on a lotus branch. Blurring the lines between memory and myth, the scene references the atmospheric lotus fields of the artist’s hometown in Ninh Bình. The intentional softness of the paint transforms the landscape into a psychological space where traditional folklore merges with contemporary displacement. The environment also becomes a hidden form of intimacy and desire, opening up a quiet space to sit with heritage, longing and the fluid nature of home.
This work is not for sale.