Sinh Village

About this audio guide

This guide to Sinh Village near Hue follows Ky Huu Phuoc, ninth in a family line of woodblock painters, through a decades-long stretch when his craft was branded superstition. It traces the seven hand steps that turn do paper, crushed lagoon shell and plant dye into paintings meant only for worship and, ultimately, for fire, plus the choice Phuoc made to keep the technique alive when almost no one else still knew it. Linger by the drying racks to watch a fresh sheet take its colors before it ever leaves the table.