Students and skeletons, coffins and masks, houseplants and gilded furniture. Enter the mind of Kiv Bui, a Vietnamese illustrator whose fantasies come in shades of grays, golds, and greens. Her work, often accompanied by a simple caption, centers on the joys of simplicity and expressing oneself.
学生和骷髅，棺材与面具，盆栽与镀金家具——这是越南插画家 Kiv Bui 以灰色、金色和绿色调勾画的幻想世界。她喜欢在作品中添加一些文字，传达简单的快乐和表达自我的主题。
Bui believes in the power of speaking through illustration. Art is an effective tool for inspiring others and an even more effective means of non-verbal communication. “When I talk about my problems, my emotions get in the way which affects my voice and the way I speak,” she says. “Not everyone can speak well, and not everyone listens well.”
One issue she’s felt the need to speak out about recently is the discrimination that many Asians in the West have faced due the pandemic. Bui moved to the US a few years ago to study and has encountered racism there firsthand. Through art, she hopes to bring more awareness to the prevalence of racism at large. “It’s our job as artists to create content to help people deal with such situations,” she says.
Kiv 相信，插图可以帮助人们表达想法。艺术既能鼓舞人心，也是一种有效的非语言交流手段。她说：“当我谈论自己的问题时，声音和说话的方式总会受到情绪的影响。不是每个人都有很好的表达能力，也不是每个人都懂得聆听。”
最近，她最渴望叙述的一个问题是疫情以来亚裔在西方国家遭受的歧视。Bui几年前移居美国学习，也曾亲身经历过种族歧视。她希望通过艺术来提醒人们种族主义的普遍存在。她说：“作为艺术家，我们的使命就是通过创作，帮助人们去应对这样的境遇。”
While she isn’t shy about confronting tougher issues, her illustrations are, at times, also a means of escapism: “I can build my own world, create the things I want to see, and be free doing what I want within it,” she says. “My viewers can live in my world, too.” Sometimes, she’s just happy to unwind with a simple drawing of a cup of matcha latte.
尽管不畏惧直面棘手的问题，但对她来说，插图有时也是一种逃避现实的方法。她说：“我可以创造一个自己的世界，画我想看到的事物，在里面自由自在，想做什么就做什么。当然，我的观众也可以在我的世界生活。”而有时候，简单地画一杯抹茶拿铁也是她放松的方式。
Growing up, Bui had to wear uniforms to school, and unlike many of her peers, it was something she loved. This fondness is clear in her art, where nearly every character is seen in white button-ups, sweater vests, schoolgirl skirts, or dress pants. “Uniforms united us and helped avoid distractions,” she explains. “I always thought that was a brilliant idea, so I make all of my characters wear uniforms; this also helps direct attention to the story.” This focus on storytelling also explains the prominent greys of her work. “Grey is neutral and calming, so it also doesn’t distract.”
之前在校念书时，Kiv 的学校规定必须穿校服上学，虽然许多同学都不乐意，她却乐在其中。这种爱好也清晰体现在她的作品中，她笔下的许多角色都穿着白色的纽扣式上衣、毛衣背心，标准的女学生裙或裤装。她解释说：“穿校服可以让我们统一起来，也避免不必要的分心。我一直觉得这个想法很棒，所以我画的角色也常常穿着制服；这样有助于观众更关注插画要表达的故事。”正是出于对故事性的强调，她在作品中常常用大片的灰色创作，“灰色是中性色调，看上去令人心境平静，所以不会分散观众的注意力。”
The ever-present skeletons are meant to be something of a neutral idea as well, speaking to the fact that everyone is the same on the inside. Despite your gender, background, orientation, or race, you’re still just flesh and bones. “I also like the idea of treating the dead as lively and active,” Bui laughs.
She’s always found skeletons and skulls beautiful, but their associations with death make them taboo in Vietnamese culture. After moving to the US, she’s felt increasingly free to use them. “My goal this year is to be true to myself as much as I can,” she says.
她的插画中经常出现的骷髅也是源于同样的理念，旨在说明所有人本质上都是一样的。不管什么性别、背景、性取向或种族，归根到底，都不过是血肉骨头而已。“我喜欢以活泼愉快的风格来描绘死者。” Bui 笑说。
她一直都觉得骷髅和头骨很漂亮，但因为与死亡有关，在越南文化中向来被视为禁忌。移居美国后，她可以更加自由地将它们用于创作中。她说：“我今年的目标是尽可能地忠于真实的自己。”
The idea of death is important to Bui though, it’s just a very delicate subject. She often felt that there was too much negativity in her art, and in recent years, she’s become more mindful of what she depicts in her illustrations. As an example, she points to an artist whose work was meant to raise awareness about suicide but instead attracted overwhelming amounts of comments glorifying the act, and it scared her. “You have to be responsible for your art,” she says. “Each work is like a public speech. I plan my work carefully so I can express myself without harming or provoking anyone.”
虽然死亡的观念对 Kiv 有重要意义，但这毕竟是一个非常微妙的话题。她经常担忧自己的作品是否过于消极，近年来也越来越注意自己在插图中表现的内容。她说曾经有一位艺术家希望通过作品提高人们对自杀的认识，结果却吸引了无数人留言来赞美自杀的行为，这使她感到害怕。她说：“你必须对自己的艺术负责。每件作品都像一场公开演讲。所以我在创作时会认真思考，以使得在表达自我的同时，不会伤害或激怒其他人。”
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Website: www.kivbui.com
Instagram: @kivbui
Contributor: Mike Steyels
Chinese Translation: Olivia Li
