Everyone who visits the sand painting workshop of Phi Long Sand Painting Company Ltd., at Alley 444, Thu Khoa Huan Street, Thanh Hai Ward, Phan Thiet City, Binh Thuan Province, are surely surprised by an enchanting world of sand paintings on different themes of nature, animals, portraits and landscapes. There are also some tiny artistic works, only about 5-10mm, with two sides being two images. All are the fruits of tireless efforts and creativeness of disabled artists at the workshop headed by artist Do Dang Phi Long.
Phi Long was born healthy like many other children. However, at the age of one, he got pneumonia that deprived him of his sense of hearing and the ability to speak. He was then sent to study at Lai Thieu Boarding School for the disabled in Binh Duong Province (formerly Song Be) where he showed an early aptitude for painting. In 2005, he participated in the “Binh Thuan – Green Convergence” festival and was fascinated by the unique artworks made from sand by painter Y Lan who is famous nationwide for this artistic genre. He was so keen on the art that he went to Ho Chi Minh City to ask painter Y Lan to teach him. Only one year later, Phi Long became a skilled artist. Returning to Phan Thiet, he discussed with his mother about opening classes to train disabled youth and then established a sand painting workshop on a total area of 500m2 with the support of Binh Thuan Province’s authority.
 

So far, he has organized seven training courses for over 180 disabled students from the provinces of Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Dong Nai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau and Khanh Hoa. Here, students are not only taught the craft, but are also provided with accommodations free of charge. They also profit from selling their paintings which is about 2 million dongs/month.
According to Nguyen Thi Kim Thuy, 28 years old, who is the most experienced artist in the workshop, if the students are patient and take pains to learn, it took them at least 3-4 months to be skilled in the craft. The most difficult part is making portraits because it requires an artist’s skill and experience to reveal the mien of faces.
Visiting the workshop’s showroom, people are mostly impressed by the collection of artistic works that depict the portrait, life and career of Uncle Ho. Most notably is the work entitled “Uncle Ho Works at the Presidential Palace” created by Phi Long on the occasion of the 118th birthday anniversary of Uncle Ho. It is 1.2m long and 0.6m high and made from 20kg of sand with 30 different colours. The front side of the work is the image of Uncle Ho who was writing an article in the Presidential Palace and its backside is the landscape of sand dunes in the early morning dew in Mui Ne. The work took Phi Long over three months to create.

Phi Long in the showroom of sand paintings.

Making sand paintings requires an artist to be meticulous in details.

“Sand Dunes in Mui Ne”.

“An Elder in the countryside” .

Artworks in glasses.

In 2009, the artworks of Phi Long Painting Workshop were displayed at Vietnam’s Handicraft Exhibition held in Malaysia in 2009 and drew much attention from foreign tourists who were very surprised when learning that these works were made by disabled Vietnamese.
Visiting the workshop, tourists see talented disabled artists working diligently. With their love, creativity, meticulousness and aesthetic sense to the art, the artists bow their soul to every grain of sand to create thousands of valuable artistic works, making a contribution to promoting the image of Vietnam to friends all over the world.
 

Story: Nguyen Vu Thanh Dat - Photos: Nguyen Luan - Files