The article published by the Guardian titled “In a war, we draw”, outlines how a poster created by Vietnamese painter Le Duc Hiep has become increasingly popular in recent days. The image features a masked healthcare worker joining hands with a soldier, accompanied by the slogan “to stay at home is to love your country”.
“I wanted to make something that can go viral, raise awareness, and inspire people to do the right thing,” Hiep told the Guardian.
Other notable artworks relating to the COVID-19 include pieces by artist Pham Trung Ha, who joined forces with the Ministry of Health and Vietnam Stamps Company to complete two designs to be used in new stamp collections, each created with the aim of “sending clear messages of solidarity in the fight against the COVID-19.”
The Vietnamese government has called on the nation’s painters to submit designs for posters spreading a clear message on how best to contain the virus.
The Guardian’s article states how, despite currently undergoing treatment for cancer, 73-year-old artist Luu Yen The has submitted two designs to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, both of which have been accepted and are now on display around the capital.
“Although I am in poor health at the moment and the deadline was tight, I decided to join this project to lend a helping hand to everybody in this war. If we cannot be on the frontline, all artists can support the fight in our own way by delivering information through these paintings,” artist Luu Yen The shared.
“Such messaging, along with early action and contact tracing has helped the nation avoid the levels of suffering seen in Europe and keep cases to mere hundreds,” the Guardian noted.
The article points out some of the factors in why Vietnam has been able to keep the number of COVID-19 cases so low. “The country has focused on isolating anyone with links to a known case, as well as new arrivals, and has quarantined more than 67,000 people. A nationwide social distancing order was also introduced on April 1,” it added.
The Guardian quote Huynh Kim Lien, founder of KAA Illustrations, in summarising the current situation locally, “In Vietnam, the government says we are at war with the virus,” she says, “So, as artists, we do our job in a war: we draw.”
