5 Questions with Datsun Tran
Datsun Tran is an Australian multidisciplinary artist. His work primarily features the natural world, though it is about us, the human story. His work has explored themes of conflict & utopia, childhood & the relationship between different cultures. The subject matter is often filtered through the lens of what we have in common, rather than what separates us.
Datsun has exhibited extensively in Australia, as well as North America, Asia & Europe. He has had over 25 solo & group shows, exhibited in over 30 art fairs, & has been a finalist in over 35 art prizes.
No.1
You’re a mid-career multidisciplinary artist who has exhibited paintings and various artwork all around the world for years. Why a picture book now?
I’ve always had an interest in making picture books, but the art world has kept me too busy to proactively pursue other formats of storytelling/communication. Matt Chun was the one who put me in contact with Tess from Slingshot Books and it took off from there. I’ve been keeping a notebook for many years now, mainly for jotting down various ideas for picture books, novels, tv series and films, some poems, and sentences I like the sound of. Who knows in what other forms my storytelling will take in the future?
No.2
Of course, the book title Then and Now is a migrant’s typical way of measuring time—of the old country ‘then’, and the new country ‘now’. This is reflected in the book’s overall narrative as well. Can you speak more to this?
When I was little, my siblings and I loved to play with firecrackers and skyrockets, and the lunar new year celebrations were when we were allowed to indulge in them. I don’t remember how old I was, but I remember an older family friend having a very strong reaction every time a firecracker exploded. I was too shy to ask him why he was scared, but he must have noticed me looking at him strangely, and he told me the sound of the fireworks reminded him of the war in Vietnam. He didn’t say much more about it, but I got a sense that he knew it wasn’t logical, but he couldn’t help what he was feeling. That stuck with me and I remember thinking years later that he was living in the past and the present at the same time, the ‘then’ and the ‘now’.
No.3
Besides it being about diaspora, Then and Now is more specifically about the refugee experience, which differs greatly in how people are often forced out of the places they lived in whether due to war, ethnic cleansing, psychic exile, etc. What do you hope to communicate, especially as this experience is often not rendered through a medium for children?
The main thing I wanted to communicate was that the actions one is forced to take to survive are based on universal human needs. To keep living is the most human response we all share as a species. We all have the potential to feel hunger, fear and despair, but we can all find solace, in keeping traditions going, celebrating your culture and being surrounded by family, whatever form that takes.
No.4
What inspired Then and Now?
Growing up as the only one in my family who wasn’t a refugee meant that I heard all these stories of displacement without having experienced it. So a large chunk of my life has been trying to understand what it was like. Also, even within my family, the effects of displacement have been quite different for each of them. The way refugees are often depicted in news and media don’t usually show the humanity, other than the suffering. So I wanted to show refugees as people like you and I, people who have had to go through a really devastating event. The story is told through sensory triggers for trauma, and I wanted to show that these triggers can also change and fade away to more positive experiences.
No.5
Can you recommend other children’s books with political themes such as yours that can be a good learning experience for both parents and children?
The obvious pick is Shaun Tan’s The Arrival—it was such a revelation to me when I first saw it. I was captivated by how beautiful and poignant it was, a book that deserves all the kudos. I also remember Nicola Davies’ The Day War Came as having a more literal interpretation of the refugee experience, with a hopeful ending. Finally, I’m not sure how kid-friendly Armin Greder’s The Mediterranean and The Island are, but they are both poetic, raw and very powerful works.
(Credit: Amelia Stanwix)
FIND OUT MORE
In his picture-book debut, contemporary artist Datsun Tran tells his family’s story of making a new home after journeying by boat from Vietnam as refugees. In vivid ink paintings and spare, resonant text, Then and Now explores the powerful associations a sound, smell or sensation can carry. Young readers are warmly welcomed into two immersive, multi-sensory and strikingly different worlds: then and now.
Datsun Tran combines traditional and modern materials and processes to make ink paintings inspired by classical Chinese brushwork. He explores themes of conflict and utopia, childhood and the relationship between different cultures. His subject matter is often filtered through the lens of what we have in common, rather than what separates us.
Get it from Slingshot Books here.