VIETNAMESE MEMORIES GN (2025)

"Five families. Five time periods. Forced to flee their country, leave everything behind and adapt to a new culture in an unfamiliar land. A testimonial to hope in the face of war. Author and artist Clement Baloup delves intimately into the pasts of a few colorful, passionate, and strong Vietnamese women who, uprooted by colonialism and war, crossed the Pacific Ocean to rebuild their lives in small Vietnamese communities across the United States. Faced with shocking, and at times, horrifying obstacles instigated by forces both internal and external, these individuals had to summon an inner strength that carried them out of their nightmares, and into their American Dreams."

"Colonialism and war disrupted the lives of millions of Vietnamese people during the 20th century. These are their stories. In his award-winning work, Vietnamese Memories, Clément Baloup chronicles, through vivid painted art and poetic storytelling, the fate of a handful of people who, like many of their peers, were condemned to leave a country successively occupied by the Japanese, the French and the Americans. Leaving Saigon recounts the experiences of Vietnamese citizens who, through different circumstances and different periods, ended up in various parts of France. These stories are testimonials of courage and endurance in the face of turmoil and displacement."