Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Huy Lam. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Huy , appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
I was born in Vietnam during the war and my family left on a boat across the South China Sea to Malaysia. We were known as The Boat People of that era. We lived in several refugee camps for awhile before immigrating to Canada. Having that experience makes most of my challenges trivial and if a really big challenge comes along, I try to dig deep and draw on my past experiences knowing that this too will pass.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am a multi-disciplinary artist. I am currently working on a bunch of new sculptures for an upcoming show that opens in August. I’ve always worked in the creative field and never really held a normal 9 to 5 job. I went to a community college for photography and worked as a professional for over a decade. I wanted to be painter when I was really young but fell in love with photography after my first experience in the darkroom and wanted to pursue it as a career. However, I would always keep painting, drawing and make things in the shop so I’ve come a full circle in many ways.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Looking back, I think the one trait that I feel has really helped me is discipline. I don’t mean discipline as in being hard on oneself but the discipline to go into the darkroom for hours day after day, month after month to hone in a skill. I believe if you have discipline, you can achieve anything. It is this trait that has helped me acquire new skills, whether it was to learn how weld stainless steel or to sit and meditate, it draws from the same source of putting in the time over and over again. I think the other two traits are grit or perseverance which is kinda of the same and related to discipline but the third would be curiosity. I am curious about how things work so when possible, I try to experience it for myself.
I think it’s really difficult today because of social media and the endless distractions to learn discipline and focus. Myself included but I am fortunate because my base traits were acquired when I was young. However, if we can identify the issues and slowly weed ourselves away from these distractions and little by little shift to the things we want to spend time on, that in itself creates discipline. It’s the little things that over time adds up and it becomes its own feedback loop.
To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
The greatest gift my parents gave me was they left me alone and never really questioned my choices. They never doubted me and just supported me. When I was 9 and wanted to be a painter, which is very rare for Chinese immigrant families, my mom bought me paints and paid for a private tutor. When I was getting into photography, they built me a darkroom. And now when I want to build sculptures, they let me use the garage. The most beautiful thing about this gift is that I don’t need or seek their approval (or anyone else’s) for anything. I just focus on my on practice. I am extremely grateful to my parents AND siblings for this gift.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.huylam.net
- Instagram: _huylam_
