This series of lacquer paintings is about the unrestrained development taking place in Hoi An, Vietnam, for several years now. Old traditional houses are being knocked down, fish ponds are being drained and filled in to build modern concrete houses, often serving the tourism industry. Despite the increase in income of the local population, this issue contributes to the destruction of the traditional lifestyle in the countryside.

The artist aims to show her preoccupation with this topic by creating images that show details of this construction, beautified by the natural shine of Vietnamese lacquer.

Zoé Olsommer (France/ Switzerland) graduated from the renowned Vevey School of Photography in Switzerland, where she was able to expand her photographic practice into more personal works. She has participated in several group exhibitions and projections while living in Switzerland and Vietnam. She moved to Hoi An, Central Vietnam, with her family in 2016 and started working with lacquer painting. She is still developing her skills in this demanding and time consuming art practice.

Zoe will be on site at her exhibtion March 27th-29th and April 3rd-5th 1pm-6pm with a selection of the materials (wooden board, processed lacquer, raw lacquer, eggshell, silver leaves, pigments, etc…) and tools that she uses to create these paintings and will be happy to talk about the art to visitors.