Timed with the gentle cold of late winter and the festive anticipation of the year’s end, Manzi gladly presents My Zootopia, an open studio by Ta Huy Long. The exhibition space is transformed into a vivid, story-filled world—arched gateways, narrative paintings, glowing glass objects, and handcrafted furniture shaped like creatures from myth and memory.

Known to many as a celebrated book illustrator, Ta Huy Long here unveils a rare, comprehensive view of his creative universe, patiently built over more than twenty years. Paintings, watercolors, original book sketches, functional furniture, and the artist’s own working desk come together in one space, revealing a continuous movement of his creative practice between drawing and object, imagination and study of material.

Characters once living on paper—crickets, fish, horses, toads—gradually demand physical bodies. They reappear as trunks, cabinets, lamps, and mobile chests made from wood, leather, metal, and glass—objects designed not only to be seen, but to be used, touched, and worn by time. Through daily life, these works accumulate memory and quietly continue their stories.

At the far end of My Zootopia, another narrative opens. Inspired by the life and legacy of Alexandre Yersin—scientist, explorer, and quiet visionary—Ta Huy Long turns to a different kind of storytelling. Moving beyond illustration, he develops The Whale Song, a graphic novel authored and drawn by himself, blending historical research with imagination and myth. This journey continues into three-dimensional form: illuminated chest covered with historical maps and a luminous whale crafted with stained glass where Yersin’s voyages merge with coastal legends and seafaring dreams.

My Zootopia is shaped by a delicate balance between childlike wonder and rigorous craftsmanship. It is not a finished fantasy, but an inhabitable world—solid, tactile, and open-ended. As Glenn Gould once wrote, “The purpose of art is not the release of a momentary ejection of adrenaline but the gradual, lifelong construction of a state of wonder and serenity.” This is the spirit that animates Ta Huy Long’s Zootopia: a world that endures, and an on-going adventure continues to unfold.