The exchange between Ngo Manh Duc and Boi Tran did not begin with a meeting, but through the work itself. Having contemplated her lacquer, he recognised in her an artist “amongst the great, very great artists,” a gesture modest in form yet precise in meaning. Following Le Thi Luu, Boi Tran stands among the rare Vietnamese women artists whose work has entered the international art market. What emerges is not proximity, but recognition, when one artistic lineage encounters another.
