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Artist Mia – whose real name is Hoang Anh – graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts and a Master's degree in Children's Literature: Children's Book Illustration from Goldsmiths, University of London. She is a young talent who has contributed to creating the atmosphere of these emotionally resonant Tet books.
Artist Mia specializes in illustration, contributing to the creation of emotionally rich Tet holiday books.
Tet in our hearts and Tet in our paintings.
What color does spring bring to your heart? Is it the vibrant yellow of early-blooming apricot blossoms, the delicate pink of peach blossoms in front of your gate, the bright red of firecracker remnants during the Lunar New Year celebrations, the pristine white of the gentle spring rain, or the dazzling array of colors in the markets on the first day of the year?
Artist Mia shared that it's difficult to choose the "color of Tet." In her memory, Tet is always vibrant and full of color, a blend of images of fireworks bursting in the sky, learning to wrap banh chung (traditional rice cakes) for the first time, the gentle fragrance of her mother's carefully tended flower garden each spring, the joyful laughter during the Tet comedy show, and the lively, warm atmosphere of family gatherings before the New Year. But if you look closely, you'll notice the dominant color green in Mia's spring paintings. Perhaps it's because green evokes a feeling of purity, innocence, and freshness, like a new beginning. And spring is a pleasant time for a new start. It is this shade of green that sets Mia's paintings apart from many Tet paintings that are brightly colored in yellow and red.
Recently, the children's picture book exhibition "Ah! Spring is Here!" organized by Slowbooks – a high-quality children's book publisher in Vietnam – drew inspiration from two books, "Spring Invites the Earth to Bloom" and "Spring Calls the Sky to Be Bathed in Sunlight," creating areas for displaying original artwork, engaging in creative interactions, and participating in training and exchange activities with picture book enthusiasts throughout the exhibition. Attendees could write poems at the "poetry interaction" booth, participate in picking shallots in the giant shallot garden featured in the books, enjoy the aroma of shallots, experience the Tet market, wrap banh chung and banh tet (traditional Vietnamese rice cakes), and gather around the Tet feast with their families.
The book "Spring Invites the Earth to Bloom" tells the story of a little girl in a red hat carrying the most fragrant bunch of coriander from the garden back home amidst the Tet (Lunar New Year) atmosphere of Northern Vietnam. Along the way, she observes the Tet preparations of many families, from offering sacrifices to the Kitchen God to wrapping banh chung (traditional rice cakes) and cleaning the house. The story evokes the meaning of family reunion and recreates the warmth of Tet in the chilly weather. Mia's first Tet painting depicts a little girl with a snail in a Tet market, full of details, layers of space, and a large crowd. She sketched and refined this painting more than five times, although she ultimately felt the first version was the best.
"Spring Calls, the Sky is Painted with Sunlight" follows a little girl with her carrot-shaped ponytail and her father as they carry a palanquin from the garden to the Tet market, exploring the bustling working lives of families in Central and Southern Vietnam as they "create" Tet. Through visits to traditional craft villages, the child understands that Tet is not only about family reunion but also an opportunity for many families to earn a living. The sudden drizzle makes the child long even more for the first rays of spring sunshine.
Mia's initial sketch for this book depicted farmers harvesting shallots, but her first completed illustration was a page featuring various figures resting at night while guarding outdoor potted flowers for Tet (Vietnamese New Year). Mia preferred to start with illustrations that depicted people, the most challenging ones, because the feeling of overcoming a challenge always energized her to move forward. She used watercolors for the nature scenes and combined watercolors with colored pencils to create texture for the landscapes and people.
Mia's first sketch for this book was a scene of farmers harvesting shallots.
Many figures with different appearances are resting at night after guarding the outdoor potted flowers for Tet (Vietnamese New Year).
Mia shared that the process of painting Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year) pictures brings more excitement than other themes. She jokingly says that she gets to "celebrate Tet" for a whole year, even two years in a row. What excites her most is the anticipation of each completed painting, then stepping into the printing workshop and wondering what the finished product will look like – a feeling very similar to the hustle and bustle of preparing for New Year's Eve. Unlike books that aren't time-sensitive, Tet books always come with pressure regarding deadlines, and she experienced that rush for two consecutive years. Although sometimes exhausted, the feeling of "Tet has truly arrived" upon completion always makes her feel it was all worthwhile.
Artists and their spring excursions
People often spend time traveling during the spring when nature is at its most joyful. For an artist who paints Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year) pictures, Mia's spring journeys take place throughout the year, a journey of exploration and connection with the cultural roots that have nurtured her since childhood, and then incorporating them into her paintings with all due respect and understanding.
For an artist who paints New Year's pictures, Mia's spring excursions take place throughout the year.
During her research for the Tet (Lunar New Year) paintings, Mia made some interesting discoveries, such as realizing that the coriander plant was more beautiful than she had noticed before. Or, although she knew that people in the South favored shallots, she had never researched this plant in detail. What surprised her most, though not directly related to Tet, was that the shallot flower possesses a very poetic and gentle beauty that she believes most people are unaware of or don't notice. For the unfamiliar products and small details of the lives of working-class people, Mia had to research very carefully through numerous images and articles to ensure accurate illustrations.
The flowers of the gardenia plant possess a very poetic, very delicate beauty that she believes most people are unaware of or do not notice.
One of Mia's deepest concerns is the Vietnamese tradition of ancestor worship, especially during the Lunar New Year. As a child, lacking sufficient understanding and insight, she sometimes found the rituals and procedures her parents performed rather cumbersome. But as she grew older, doing these things herself and truly paying attention to them, she felt more connected to everything around her. For example, during the Lunar New Year, when cleaning and arranging the ancestral altar, Mia felt a strange sense of peace and warmth.
There are two paintings – two spring scenes that evoke the most emotion – that Mia wants to invite viewers to join her on a spring journey. The painting "Tet Market," with about 60 characters in various poses and activities, is the painting with the largest number of people she has ever painted.
The painting "Tet Market," with approximately 60 characters in various poses and activities, is the painting with the largest number of people she has ever painted.
What's particularly impressive about this painting is the meticulous detail: the patterns on the market-goers' clothes, the plastic shopping baskets they carry, the large baskets placed on the scales used to weigh goods, the way sellers and buyers squat and chat animatedly beside piles of vegetables mounded on tarpaulins spread on the ground... all are carefully and detailedly depicted, perfectly recreating the rustic yet vibrant culture of a Vietnamese market. The second painting is the cover of the book "Spring Invites the Earth to Bloom." In it, only leaves and blades of grass gently rise from the ground, possessing an unusually powerful vitality. Mia recalled that when she painted this picture, the coriander plants in her garden had only just begun to sprout, so she had to take a quick shot of some weeds close to the ground for reference. Looking back at the original painting with its rustling green hues, she herself feels soothed and refreshed by that color scheme.
Mia recalled that when she painted this picture, the coriander plants in her garden had only just begun to sprout, so she had to take a quick, close-up shot of some weeds for reference.
Some elderly people, upon seeing the painting, shared that the pot used to cook banh chung (traditional Vietnamese rice cakes) reminded them of their childhood memories, of preparing for Tet (Vietnamese New Year) with their parents. This raises the question: can art revive the fading values of Tet? Art truly has the ability to preserve memories, and many beautiful things in life deserve to be preserved.
In the context of the bustling Tet book market each year, filled with countless illustrated publications, Mia's illustrations, while not seeking to be different in style, possess a unique depth of cultural meaning. These illustrations are skillfully strung together to form a cohesive narrative, making the cultural story vivid and accessible to a wide range of readers, including those unfamiliar with Vietnamese Tet or international readers.
However, according to Mia, not all values remain relevant to modern life; they need to naturally transform over time. Therefore, art doesn't necessarily have to bring those values back into daily life, but simply helping them not to be forgotten and to exist as a memory in each person's heart is already valuable.
Art doesn't need to bring those values back into everyday life; it just needs to help prevent them from being forgotten and allow them to live on as memories in the hearts of each person.
