Ho Chi Minh-based Nguyen draws on her Vietnamese heritage and a broad spectrum of cultural references to create artworks that span installation, painting, drawing, film and fashion design. Her work muses on the colourful chaos of being a woman in the modern world. Alongside her art practice, she founded the first purpose-built space for contemporary art in Vietnam, The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre, in 2016 and has her own film production company Xuong Phim Mau Hong.

Nguyen’s Flower of Life installation was unveiled on the wine estate’s Art & Architecture Walk in November. It gives fresh energy to an 18m-tall dead oak tree on the grounds, which she has cloaked in a metallic sheath that shimmers in the light. Its hand-crafted, stainless steel leaves sway in the breeze. Back in 2019, the artist also brought her piece The Silver Room – a shining, contemporary take on the wood and bamboo house of Vietnam’s Central Highlands – to Château La Coste, where it is now part of the permanent collection.

Says Guggi: “When I got to know Tia-Thuy, I was struck by her passion, discipline, and above all, the results of her efforts – I guess the only thing that really counts. I am always impressed by her capacity to bridge painting, textile work, installation and more, funnelling her creativity into a unique and coherent vision. Her beaded works catch and reflect light, colours, textures and images, changing as you move across them.”

With Flower of Life, he says, Nguyen has “transformed a dead organic substance into living light”. He adds: “I find her to be a unique and fresh presence in the arts, and I am looking forward with great interest to seeing where her creative journey takes her from here.”

Nguyen explains of the work: “I used embellishing techniques that come from my 12 years of experience in fashion. The sunlight itself finishes the work, travelling through it, reflecting on its surface or casting shadows to become whole. This will never stop, thanks to the cyclic energy of the universe. My duty is only to connect natural light, the work and the viewer.”

Natural forces play a big role in her work, partly inspired by her father’s experiences as a pilot in the Vietnamese Airforce during the war with the United States. “I was enchanted by his majestic descriptions of flying through clouds in his plane,” she says. “I have a deeply nuanced appreciation of clouds—what they can reveal and resemble.”

For the artists, these clouds reflect her own sense of freedom as an artist. “I consider myself as a cloud, onto which I can project my thoughts and prayers, and transform with the wind.”

Sunlight is also a regular collaborator for Nguyen. “I would love to continue my explorations with it in my upcoming paintings and installations,” she says. The artist is also committed to raising awareness of the richness of Vietnamese culture. “I want to explore traditional materials in Vietnamese ancient arts – the different media, colours, patterns, and techniques – in my work, in order to affirm the value of Vietnamese fine arts in the world art market,” Nguyen adds.