Selfie with an artwork

“Awake” is the consecutiveness of the exhibition “Into Wildlife” held in July 2023 at the International Center for Interdisciplinary Science and Education (ICISE), Quy Nhon. “Awake” offers the perspective of people who have been concerned about the footsteps of different species with respect, love, and compassion, and depicted their lives and stories in artworks. Viewers gain a deeper understanding of the work of ‘nature-loving’ artists through their works, and at the same time become aware of the importance and necessity of wildlife conservation.

Jeet Zdung is the nickname of Nguyen Tien Dung, who was born in the coastal city of Da Nang and grew up in Hanoi. He works mainly in the field of composing, writing and drawing books for readers from 4 years old up. His rich and diverse works belong to many genres such as manga or comic (with and without words), graphic novels, and picture books. The contents of his works are often related to adventure, nature observation, folk art, sports, children, and wildlife. Jeet Zdung has a varied drawing styles, depending on the content he wants to express such as realism, cartoons, manga or a Vietnamese-Japanese folk styles. His favorite materials are watercolor paper, washi paper, Poonah paper, canvas, paints, and ink.

At this exhibition, Jeet Zdung presented the works in his two graphic novels: Saving Sorya: Chang and the Sun Bearand Saving H’non: Chang and the Elephant. The novels were published by Kim Dong Publisher in Vietnam and the copyright was bought by publishers in the UK, US, Korea, China, Turkey, Norway, and Russia. Saving Sorya: Chang and the Sun Bearbrought him the UK prestigious YOTO Carnegie Medal for Illustration.

Saving Sorya: Chang and the Sun Bearis the first book in the comic series by Jeet Zdung and Trang Nguyen, co-author. The book tells about the journey of Chang, a small girl with a big dream of protecting the lives of animals on the edge of extinction. She met Sorya, a sun bear who was successfully rescued by the Bear Rescue Center from the hands of bad guys, and determined to bring Sorya back to nature despite difficulties and dangers.

The second part of the comic series is titled Saving H’non: Chang and the Elephant, telling the story of H’Non, a wild elephant in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. H’Non was captured as a calf to tame for wood and goods transport and tourist ride. H’Non is getting older and weaker but is still constantly being exploited. Feeling sorry for the elephant’s situation, Chang determined to bring H’Non back to the jungle. Together with Wat, H’Non’s new mahout, the two helped H’Non regain his instincts and reintegrate into the herd of wild elephants.