What Happens When Artists Turn a Fishing Village Into Their Canvas?

Back in 2016, Trung Thanh Village in Tam Thanh Commune (Tam Ky City, Quang Nam Province) was turned into an “art village” after volunteers from the Tam Ky Municipal People’s Committee and the Korea Foundation painted colorful murals on over 100 houses.

Residents eat amidst a mural of a woman holding a lotus.

Gimme your love gimme it all
Gimme in the kitchen gimme in the hall

Under a program called Art for a Better Community, the coastal commune became a tourist attraction thanks to its beautiful, varied artwork, which depicts everything from traditional scenes of Vietnam to flora and fauna such as sunflowers and penguins.

Coffee on the beach.

Gimme your body
Gimme your mind
Open your heart
Pull down the blind

At the time, Voice of Vietnam reported that the locality followed up the home murals by painting over 100 coracle boats and creating a 1.5-kilometer-long “boat road.” While other places have also pursued murals since, Tam Thanh can be considered Vietnam’s original “mural village.” Visit the sun-soaked, kaleidoscopic commune below.

A house and its painted counterpart.

The old woman and the net.

Gimme a silver gimme a gold
Make it a million for when I get old

A curiously placed dog.

From sea to sky.

Welcome to Tam Thanh.

Bread from Heaven
Gimme a country
Where I can be free

Are you on the light side, or the dark side?

Balloons and umbrellas.

The art of fishing.

When you get down, down to the root
Don’t give a damn don’t give a hoot
Still gotta keep makin the loot

Penguins and a banana — what more do you need?

Nap time at the lotus pond.

Giant turtle vs. the orcas.

The lost empire.

Hunters at work.

Art for Arts sake
Money for Gods sake

So! Would 10CC’s 1978 hit ‘Dreadlock Holiday’ be released/tolerated in today’s society? –

And Relax!

Love and peace John