Tam Thanh "The Painted Village"
It is 7 in the morning and the fisherman of a Vietnamese village wakes up. He pours himself a coffee and goes out for some fresh air, but when he turns around, he can't help but smile. Perhaps, because he is still not used to the fact that the facade of his house shows off his design ... smiling.
Like this fisherman, many other neighbors have been portrayed on the walls of this village in Vietnam : a papaya vendor, two sisters hugging each other, or a local old lady on a motorcycle. Inhabitants whose stories shine today in the first place in Vietnam seduced by street art: Tam Thanh Mural Village, a small fishing village Quang Nam Province, in the center of the Asian country
Lost among palm trees and wetlands, Tam Thanh In 2016, it was the place chosen by the cultural organization Korea Foundation for the project “Art for a Better Community” , an example of the good relations between both countries. Two years later, more than one hundred murals were completed by a team of almost twenty artists and volunteers who brought here the influences of other towns of urban art of South Korea , a country where this trend has been established for years.
A oases of colors that not only has conquered to its own inhabitants, but also to tourism.
Fusion with urban art
A RAINBOW OF STORIES
leaning out to a China Sea of lonely fishermen, Tam Thanh is located an hour south of Hoi An, the famous lantern town become one of the most visited places in Vietnam.
Nevertheless, the options to get to Tam Thanh are not too many , except for specific tours or on your own motorcycle. Another alternative is to download a Vietnamese app called Grab that allows you to rent a car or motorcycle with a driver.
After a tour of the most rural Vietnam , you will discover that Tam Thanh is made up of a single street, Thanh Nien Road , where a first graffiti welcomes this** labyrinth of stories** that they look like something out of a movie of Miyazaki
the first design , and possibly the most famous , It's of a girl contemplating a string of lanterns facing the sea. Next, one boy flies a kite and another a storm of paper planes. It is about sending messages to the future, to the progress that inspires this town where there, two streets below, the town tailor is portrayed with his Singer sewing machine and three fisherwomen exchange products on a jungle background.
The Genie from Aladdin speaking in Vietnamese, coming from the favorite movie of a nearby home. The girl who is chased by balloons and who would have charmed Banksy. The palm trees and boats, a marine kiss in the form of fish mosaics , or even a banana taped together.
Many of the tours Tam Thanh finish in your local beach , which they approach karaoke artists looking for the tip of a few tourists. If you also have extra time, you can also visit the Vietnamese Heroic Mother Statue , a huge sculpture a 7 kilometers from the center that honors the mothers whose children died during the period of national liberation. a destination where each corner will always lead you to one of its murals. To the pleasure of walking rocked by the sound of the sea while the children come out to greet you, aware that people from other countries have already discovered their secret. A woman making tea on her terrace or that fisherman returning with a octopus necklace
Life stays the same Tam Thanh. With the only difference that, Now, the world knows this town.
Tradition and modernity
WHEN ART IS PROGRESS
“The location of this project in Tam Thanh was appropriate, as the village is near a Turistic center What hoi an but it far enough to keep its essence ”, tells Traveler.es Quoc, a local guide and owner of one of the few accommodations in Tam Thanh, Bich Hoa Homestay.
The key of a destination that currently receives more than 2000 visitors per week. An opening that not only means the presence of more local guides or accommodation, but also a greater benefit through its Typical products.
For example, a week before the end of the project in 2018, the owner of a small cafe invested 9 million Vietnamese dong (about 300 euros) in sugar cane. Today, thanks to the arrival of tourists, he has opened two more kiosks where you can try a delicious sugar cane juice, Tam Thanh's flagship drink.
Initiatives born from impact that urban art can cause in a community for different reasons, including the interaction of its members, the arrival of tourism, or the benefit of using art as a tool for reflection. In fact, a few months after the end of the project, Two other nearby towns joined this artistic initiative: Tam Hai Island , where they have painted different murals to report the problem with the rubbish , either An Binh Island , also overturned with the cause in the form of environmental reasons.
But especially, the main benefit of street art in Tam Thanh involves involving the youngest with new ways of life and projects. Of options.
The best test comes when, passing through one of the terraces, Two children paint one of the walls of their house.
maybe so, life doesn't always have to end on a boat or in a rice paddy.
But in one of the many doors that he urban art can open to all the planet communities.