A Hanoi-based artist has spent the last decade frequenting the mountainous areas in northern Vietnam to capture the beauty of minority people, especially children and women, onto his canvas.

Le The Anh, 39, now has hundreds of paintings featuring the life and people of the northern ethnic minority groups.

The artist, currently working at the fine arts department at the Hanoi Academy of Theatre and Cinema, came up with the topic in 2006 and has since spared one month every year to visit the northwestern area to follow his dream.

“I do not want to come to the mountainous markets and draw people of the Red Dao and Black H’Mong ethnic groups as this path has been traveled by many,” he said.

“Instead, I want to focus on the children and women.”

Anh said the eyes of the minority kids always leave him obsessed.

“Those eyes always look straight ahead and you can see in there both wildness and purity, and optimism and worries,” he elaborated.

“Those eyes give me a belief that no matter how hard life could become, there are always beautiful things that must be admired and preserved.”

Anh said he finds great inspiration in mountainous kids with tangled hairs and old clothes.

“I would focus on the most natural features of those children, such as their running noses, their cheeks in the cold weather, and their full-of-optimism eyes,” he shared.

Watch some of his paintings below.

Le The Anh

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