Overarching storyline

The first emotion; optimism. It reflects the emotion I felt during the preparation stage before flying off to Vietnam. Happy, excited and full of optimism. This are being reflects on the linear lines that I portrayed in first piece. Some lines are bold, which are  the “happy” worries that I had, such as what clothes I should where, which shopping malls are better etc.

Surprises as soon as I reached there. It is a haven for shopping and there is a street in Ho Chi Minh that are lined up with halal foods. But like these bubbles that I portrayed in my second piece, it was only a fleeting moment of happy surprises. I did not foresee of what about to come.

Ho Chi Minh

A few days later, I felt despair. The micro dos that the makeup sponge produced, describe those tiny little feelings of uneasiness and unpleasantness that began to grew. Why Despair? Because I had been eating instant foods/ramen for the past few days. As I was in the rural part of the country with not much/almost none Muslims population, my available choice of food consists of seafood and vegetable. Unfortunately, I am allergic to seafood and did not fancy vegetable. Eventhough I expected these situations, I cant help but felt despair.

Seafoods

Street vendors selling foods

My fourth piece describes outrage. Finally, these feelings are getting intensified. My feelings started built up, with lack of proper sleep, exhaustion and no proper meal for few days. The mesh net produced an effect of “boiling in anger”. And then at some point it bursts into the rough, harsh lines that is being painted on that acrylic paper to create a rougher texture. All of the negative emotions combined and built up. Due to a commotion, which happened at Dalat night market which I will tell you in the next emotion.

Fear. At the Dalat Night Market, out of blue a police truck came and raided the entire place. I had no idea of what was happening at that time and was afraid of the situation. Later I realized that these street hawkers are not legal street vendors. I did not noticed that this night market was actually situated on a roundabout road, hence which is why the police chased the vendors away. They did not have the permissions and rights to sell. The whole situation evokes a sense of fear which represents the rough patches of these plastic marks. The linear lines are describing about the atmosphere/environment of the place. 

Dalat Night Market

Last piece describes longing. These white empty voids are the longing that I had during my last few days at Vietnam. I was longed for a good sleep, good food back home in Singapore. The strokes are in circular motion as when you longed for something, you will eventually get back to where it is.

Overall, the good and bad experiences are what makes travelling trip fun and unexpected. The bad ones are for me to learn and reflect on. And eventually when I looked back, the good memories over weighs the bad ones. 🙂