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Victoire is invited to be an artist in residence by Than Nhat Thong, owner of Hilton Hotel, Bach Dang Hotel Complex, in Đà Nẵng, Vietnam. The purpose of this residency is to collaborate and inspire new work targeting a sustainable art industry in Central Vietnam. Victoire will work alongside local artists, artisans and university students of architecture from Huế, Hội An, and Đà Nẵng, culminating in an exhibition in Đà Nẵng. The brief is to research areas of interest in Vietnam by uncovering unique characteristics in local cultural landscape for contemporary dialogue and products. The work for this project has commenced and physical residency begins in May, 2025.
All photographs on this page are copyright of Angela Alice Co.
it takes away the joy and satisfaction of generating newness and pleasure that refreshes once practiced. This becomes an artist’s worst predicament in a long career in the arts. After much lemonade, marmalade, and pickles, life sometimes shakes its head and drops a ray of lemon sunshine.
This ray of sunshine came in the form of a quiet, generous man sitting across from me at a table.
He is the CEO of the Da Nang Hilton. He flicked through my catalogue of works from an exhibition in Chiang Mai and, after casually putting it down, invited my husband and me to meet him for breakfast the next morning, being the last day of our visit to Ho Chi Minh City.
When we arrived, he was actively engaged in a business meeting at a café in the gardens of the military museum. To give him time, we decided to take a walk around the beautifully manicured park until he was ready. He smiled a Buddha-like grin, took my hand, and posed for a photo as a memory of our meeting.
Towards Peace had been simmering in the back of my mind as global events began to unfold; the helplessness to make a difference in the state of the world was troubling.
I have always wanted to make a meaningful difference that is informed and nurtured through my work. This opportunity flicked the stagnant switch to seek an intervention strategy through art that could have a lasting effect on a global audience. Mr. Thong’s willingness has propelled my next project, which will bring both Australian and Vietnamese connectedness, continuing as a global ripple effect through shared truth-telling as the main element for a collective voice using the Dong Ho tradition of storytelling.
When life insists on serving lemons,
Focal area, Central Vietnam
In Central Vietnam, echoes of a tumultuous past persist, marked by historical military engagements involving Australia and the United States during wartime. However, there lies a profound opportunity to transcend the scars of the past and forge a path towards peace and unity in the collective memory of the community.
