Truong The Linh’s “Blinking” defeated nearly 300 entries to win the top prize, worth VND 120 million ($6,000) of the annual self-portrait painting competition named Dogma.
Linh was born in the countryside of Quang Binh province. “This year I am 24 years old and I’m at a very sensitive stage of life, in a society full of changes, full of temptations and challenges. Sometimes I feel lonely and aimless. I’m something that is not really formed. White and black, good and bad, who will I be?” Linh said about the inspiration for his self-portrait.
The organizers also awarded the New Media prize to the work “Connect” by Huynh Thanh Phu from HCM City, composite material. “Nature is sensitive and vulnerable. Protection of nature is the way human defend themselves,” the author shares.
Three consolation prizes were presented to Tran The Vinh and Huynh Bao Trung from HCM City and Dang Xuan Hung from Hanoi.
With the support of the HCM City Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Dogma Prize on Self-portrait has been held since 2011. The contest is an annual festival for artists of visual art artist in Vietnam. This year the event attracted nearly 300 entries.
Forty works on this year’s finalists are on display at the HCM City Fine Arts Museum from October 16 to 25.
