Yin & Yang | Layers of Vietnam: A Dialogue Between Tradition and Mordenity

At Brighton College Vietnam, IB Visual Arts reflects the wider spirit of the Diploma Programme, where learning is shaped through enquiry, exploration and reflection. Pupils are guided to look closely at the world around them, to question what they see, and to form personal responses through their work. In this sense, each piece becomes more than a composition; it becomes a way for pupils to speak about the world, to share how they see, understand and experience it.

In Layers of Vietnam, Duy Le, an IB Visual Arts pupil at Brighton College Vietnam, looks beyond architecture to explore a question that feels especially resonant in contemporary Vietnam: how do tradition and modernity continue to inhabit the same space, and what does that coexistence reveal about identity, change and continuity?

Drawing from his own photographs, Duy captures a landscape in which traditional forms and modern structures stand side by side, revealing not a conflict between old and new, but a quieter, more intricate dialogue between them. Through the process of creating this piece, Duy not only developed his technical skills in colour and large-scale painting, but also discovered that meaningful artistic work is often shaped through layering, experimentation and reflection. Working alongside another pupil with a very different artistic style further deepened this understanding, showing that artistic practice is not about reaching perfection quickly, but about staying open to different ways of seeing, making and thinking.