It was the destruction of coral reef and over-fishing that moved artist Nguyen Lieu to paint brightly coloured canvasses warning Vietnamese that their coastal environment is in peril. “Nha Trang is the most beautiful bay recognized worldwide but exploitation there is chaotic,” Lieu, 53, said at Galerie DEWI, where 15 of his oil paintings were exhibited in June and July. His home town on the south-central coast has smooth sandy beaches, islands and mountains, but it also carries the burden of the ugly side of rapid development and fast-growing tourism.
