Preserving Ede culture through paintings

As a child, Kpa Ty often drew on the ground, on pieces of wood, on tree bark with charcoal, and later on on paper with pencils, crayons and watercolors. Closely attached to village life, the mountains and forests of Song Hinh, the gong festivals, the new rice festival, the new house festival, the grave-leaving festival..., he recorded in his drawings the daily activities around him. He said: "I draw whatever I like, I draw because I feel happy, because I want to preserve the images of village life, of childhood memories".

In 2006, after finishing high school, Kpa Ty stayed home to help his family with farming and painting; in 2011, he passed the entrance exam to the painting major at the University of Arts ( Hue University). In 2015, Kpa Ty graduated from the University of Fine Arts and began his journey as a real artist.

Artist Kpa Ty completes a work to participate in the South Central Highlands regional exhibition in 2025.

As an ethnic minority pursuing professional art, Kpa Ty’s path has never been smooth. He proves that ethnic minorities are not only cultural subjects for others to explore , but they themselves can tell their own stories and their own culture through the visual language of drawing.

Painter Vo Tinh, Head of the Phu Yen Province Fine Arts Association (Phu Yen Province Literature and Arts Association) commented: “Having received formal training in fine arts, despite difficult circumstances, he is always passionate about creating. Painter Kpa Ty has works that have won high awards in the province and was selected by the Art Council of the Vietnam Fine Arts Association to “hang” the Fine Arts Exhibition in the South Central and Central Highlands regions. In particular, he has works printed in the collection of paintings by Chungbuk - Korea”.

Kpa Ty's paintings have their own characteristics. Not following the Western school of sophisticated lighting techniques or modern composition, Kpa Ty focuses on depicting everyday life, culture, and customs of the Ede people, combining folk symbols and personal emotions. Each stroke and each color in his paintings carries the breath of the Song Hinh mountainous region.

Kpa Ty skillfully incorporated images of Ede grandmothers and mothers, traditional village festivals, images of fields, forests, herds of cows, etc. into his paintings, thereby helping viewers better understand the spiritual life of the Ede community. Besides cultural themes, Kpa Ty is also passionate about painting landscapes, capturing the majestic and poetic beauty of the Song Hinh mountains and forests. From waterfalls to vast forests, from the sunset dyeing red hills and mountains to clear, winding streams, etc., he expressed all of them with brilliant colors and free-flowing lines, expressing his love for his homeland. Artist Kpa Ty's artistic perspective is not to create to satisfy market tastes. "I only paint what I feel - about a rustic, profound, but vibrant mountainous homeland," Kpa Ty shared.

The work "Happy New House".

One of Kpa Ty's most impressive works is the painting "Celebrating the coming of age". He painted this work in a month and submitted it to the provincial competition in December 2019, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the re-establishment of the province by Phu Yen (old) (1989 - 2019), and was awarded first prize by the Jury. Painter Vo Tinh commented: "The work represents a sacred moment in the life of each ethnic minority child, vividly depicting a traditional ceremony where young people are recognized as adults, responsible for their families and villages. Through simple, realistic strokes, the painting not only recreates indigenous culture but also conveys pride and gratitude for the nation's roots and traditions."

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/van-hoa-du-lich-van-hoc-nghe-thuat/202508/gin-giu-van-hoa-ede-qua-tranh-ve-2bf0462/