Born into a mixed Buddhist and Christian family, Tôn-Thất Minh-Nhật grew up believing in a supreme power that cannot be named. For him, the highest level of any religion is compassion and respect for others, including nature, animals and things. Following in the footsteps of French Impressionist masters such as Monet and Renoir, who first took their easels out of the studio and immersed themselves in nature, Minh-Nhật replicate this path but with traditional Vietnamese lacquer rather than Western oil paint.

For many centuries, lacquer has been used as a coating to preserve furniture and architectural elements in Vietnam, especially in temples and pagodas. For Minh-Nhật, making lacquer is an act of meditation, a ritual practice to embrace the everyday happenings in his humble surroundings in Hue, Vietnam.

Wandering between concepts of old-new, fast-slow, is also a characteristic of Minh-Nhat's artistic practice. He is excited by the challenge of 'capturing' the speed of nature through an extremely long and meticulous lacquer-making process. He is not trying to capture the image, but to freeze an illusion created by light and time.