Đông Ngàn Đỗ Đức

Đỗ Đức was born in 1945 in Thai Nguyen province, a mountainous region of Vietnam. The painter grew up surrounded by nature and ethnic minorities. Unlike his illiterate parents, he had the opportunity to attend school, where he learned to read and write while working in the fields. It was there that he discovered literature and painting. He gained recognition for his caricatures, which later allowed him to study at the Hanoi Academy of Fine Arts. Đỗ Đức draws his inspiration from nature and the ethnic minorities who live in the remote mountain regions of Vietnam. After a successful career in the art world, he decided to give back to the land that had nurtured his art. He organized an exhibition and used the proceeds to build two houses in one of the poorest villages in the region. This action, relayed by the media, gave rise to a support group headed by the painter, a flower in the rock. For the past ten years, he has been building schools for very young children from ethnic minorities in isolated villages (about twenty schools to date).