Bao Vuong was born in Vietnam at the end of the 70s. Barely a year old, he fled with his parents by sea. Like thousands of boat people, he and his family wandered, tossed about in refugee camps in pursuit of a land of welcome. The paintings of Bao Vuong are totally black, both realistic and abstract. It’s a projection of the nights in the open seas spent by his family on the run, the same nights that hundreds of thousands of refugees have lived through the centuries and still know each day—forsaken in the dark, without a clue. Darkness hints at imminent death and swallows all those who have sacrificed and lost everything worth living. Black paint awakens fears associated with exile, while reflections of light on the paint strokes represent shimmers of hope that give birth to a survival instinct, echoing the promise of a better world.