12호2017년9월11일자(인쇄본).pdf
The Illustrated Market: An Artist Traveling Vietnam
Marta Barne
http://cafe.daum.net/weeklymonday/iSZz
The first thing to strike me in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam was the people. My boyfriend and I arrived at night and had expected the streets to be deserted. Instead, the whole city seemed to be outside. There were friends sitting on plastic chairs beneath street lamps, families trying to get the best deals at night markets, and thousands of men and women riding past on scooters.
As we watched from the windows of the taxi bringing us to our hotel, the headlights of these scooters lit up the drivers and the loads they carried. There were enormous sacks of rice, large white lawn statues modeled after Greek sculptures, and pots filled with yellow flowers. At a red light, we stopped beside an entire family on one bike: the father in the back, the eldest child in front of him holding a baby, and the mother driving with a pair of toddlers on her knees.
It was clear from the start that Vietnam was filled with fascinating glimpses into its people’s lives. I knew at once that I wanted to capture the Vietnamese spirit in my drawings. And so, the next day, my boyfriend and I took our cameras (and I my sketchbook) and went straight to the Ben Thanh market to see how the people lived from day to day.
For the first few hours, I wandered and watched. When sketching during my travels, the first thing I do is observe the surroundings. I always ask myself: what are the most common sights, textures, and colours? What does the place feel like?
Hot, I thought.
My clothes stuck to my skin. The air was humid and full of dust kicked up from the scooters – a mix of hot peppers, Thai basil, and gasoline. Everywhere the nasal twang of Vietnamese could be heard as vendors bargained with tourists from brightly coloured stalls. We passed walls of sunglasses for sale, gleaming like blue and green beetle wings, right next to racks of linen pants with elephants printed on the fabric.
I tried to find the most common textures, but there were dozens. It was the same for colours. It seemed like every hue that had ever existed was in this market – sometimes all of them at once in a single silk scarf. It was hard to decide what one image could capture the spirit of this place.
I wondered: should I draw the woman ladling soup at the street food stall? Or what about the one in the conical hat carrying two long baskets heavy with fruit? Or maybe I should stop to capture a group of women chatting in front of their shop.
To help me focus, I got out my camera. Taking pictures creates a frame – something I don’t have when drawing from life. As usual, this was exactly what I needed.
We sat at a stall in the middle of the market and ordered some fresh spring rolls. As we ate, dipping the rolls into peanut butter sauce, I got out my sketchbook and picked my subject.
I began sketching the things that wouldn’t move first. After that, I drew the folds in the fabric, the arrangement of the hands, and finally the ｅxpression on the face.
The last one is hardest, but as I looked at my finished drawing, I was satisfied.
Well, mostly. My fingers itched, wanting to make more. I had come to realize that no single illustration could capture the diversity of people in this city.
A lifetime wouldn’t be enough to draw it all, I thought, and smiled.