There is no place without a history. There is no history without a place. There are places without measure, and histories beyond all time. Elegant moments and secret places. Patches of eternity and jolted thoughts. To verify this, one must know Boi Tran.
In 2017, through the VTV8 feature The Elegance Of Hue Continues At Boi Tran Garden, Boi Tran Garden appeared not as spectacle, but as a lived continuation of Hue itself, where garden paths, old houses, paintings, ceramics, and silence formed a single cultural atmosphere.
On 16 March 2017, Boi Tran Garden welcomed two distinguished American guests: William Drea “Bro” Adams, then Chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and entrepreneur-philanthropist Joe Boulos. What began as dinner became one of those rare evenings when thought, memory, hospitality and shared curiosity extended naturally beyond the table. Later, Adams would write simply: “It will certainly be one of the highlights of our trip.”
In 2016, the Royal Ontario Museum addressed a letter to Boi Tran as part of its Indochina cultural tour, marking a moment in which an institutional journey extended beyond its own structures to encounter a space where art and life remain inseparable.
Boi Tran Garden is privileged to welcome a cultural exchange between the Vietnamese and Singaporean delegations, unfolding not as a formal event, but as a moment of shared presence. The occasion brought together H.E. Le Hoai Trung, Member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Secretary of the Party Committee, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Member of the National Defence and Security Council, and Member of the National Assembly (16th legislature); Mr Ng Teck Hean, Deputy Secretary (Asia-Pacific), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore and Ambassador of Singapore to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; Mr Nguyen Van Cao, Chairman of the Thua Thien Hue Provincial People’s Committee; and painter Boi Tran, whose convergence reflected a meeting point between diplomacy and cultural stewardship.
In 2016, during the 250th anniversary year of Christie's, a landmark sale devoted to Vietnamese art was presented in Hong Kong under the title Se Souvenir Des Belles Choses. Among those contributing behind the scenes was Thuc Doan, recognised as the first Vietnamese woman to assist Christie’s in such a capacity as translator, advisor and cultural interlocutor.
The 2015 HUE TV (TRT) documentary on Artist Boi Tran approached Hue not as spectacle, but as atmosphere, a world shaped by painting, memory, cuisine, feminine resilience, and the slow poetry of daily life on Thien An Hill. At Boi Tran Garden, art was never separated from existence. Old houses, winding garden paths, paintings, ceramics, and silence formed a living continuity rather than a reconstruction of the past.
Boi Tran Art Gallery is honoured to support the group exhibition “Chòn Chòn,” as part of its sustained engagement in nurturing younger generations of artists and contributing to a broader ecosystem in which contemporary Vietnamese art continues to evolve and expand.
Boi Tran is not only a distinguished Vietnamese artist and garden architect, but also a gifted cook. To be received by her in the former imperial city of Hue is both a pleasure and a discovery. Within a secluded garden of lotus ponds and wooden architecture, everything has been shaped by her own hand. Here, cooking becomes more than craft; it is an extension of life, rooted in the refined traditions of Hue and guided by balance, precision, and memory. What emerges is not simply a meal, but a quiet harmony, where art, space, and gesture come together as one.
Formally requested by Vietnam First Lady Mai Thi Hanh, Boi Tran Garden was privileged to host a cultural exchange meeting combined with Hue royal refined music and Hue fine dining on the official first foreign visit to Vietnam of Laos First Lady Naly Sisoulith.
