Hidden Heritages
Before the pandemic upended our world, San José Museum of Art, Chopsticks Alley, City of San José Office of Cultural Affairs, and artists closely tied to the Bay Area began a multiyear partnership called Hidden Heritages: San José’s Vietnamese Legacy. Vietnamese artists and community members were brought together to share, amplify, and artistically present stories that reveal the contributions of Vietnamese Americans to San José, one of California’s most diverse cities, and I had the privilege of working with fellow Vietnamese artists, musicians, and poets during a series of community-based, creative learning workshops that provided opportunities to share personal experiences and memories, as we reflected on the transformational impact Vietnamese Americans have had on San José’s culture and economy, as well as its identity as the capital of Silicon Valley. As part of this collaborative effort to unearth the stories of San José’s Vietnamese community, I was invited to make work to help bring these stories to life through the visual art language.
The following works were inspired by the oral histories that were conducted by our belovèd Robin Treen for San José Museum of Art, some of which are on display for the Hidden Heritages exhibit at San José City Hall, also curated by Ms. Treen.
The Blue Dress, 2022, Ink on voile, 9 x 144" each sash; installation dimensions variable
In her younger years, Thien Nhiên and her mother visited her father about once a year. They would take a train to visit her family members who were imprisoned in the hard labor internment camp. Even in humid weather, her mother would bundle her in layers of clothing so that they could smuggle in food for her father and uncles. Rice, beans, and nuts were sewn into Thien Nhiên’s garments, along with money to make the necessary bribes.
To help bring this story to life, I sewed cơm nếp (sweet rice) grains into her garment in the same manner in which her clever her mother did—leaving one loose string that when pulled, would release the morsels into the destitute hands that were cupped to receive under the table.
When a fourteen-year-old Thiên Nhiên received word from her family that they were going to America, she imagined her neighbors standing on the shore, seeing her family off as they embarked on a ship. To prepare for this special occasion, she put on her favorite blue outfit, and her white sandals. She very quickly learned that the voyage was treacherous and wearisome. On the way to the small fishing boat, they hid in sheds storing firewood, mountains of salt along the coastal salt farm, before arriving to the small fishing boat the she doubted could carry her. She boarded the boat with only one sandal; she had lost the other one somewhere along the way.
The children held onto all of the money once they boarded with the assumption that should the boat be raided by pirates, the children would not be searched.
Here, Thiên Nhiên’s story, faintly visible, is typed onto the chiffon. During the creative process, I used Cô Bé’s typewriter to transcribe her memories of the escape from war, through fear, and into freedom. The delicate material refused to absorb the ink, and each letter was typed four times in order for it to adhere, further expressing the persistence that carries her family’s story.
Bà Có Ngoại brought seeds, 2022, photographic print, ink, and acrylic on cherimoya seeds in handmade chiffon pouch
While preparing for the escape from war, Michelle’s grandmother brought with her a pouch that contained the seeds of rau muống (Chinese water spinach), su hào (kohlrabi), and mướp hương (luffa gourd), vegetables used in traditional Vietnamese cuisine, which she planted once she arrived in America. Here we find the seeds of the elders planted in foreign soil, begetting new seed, with heart to continue tradition on new shores to nourish the succeeding generations.
I collaged portraits of Michelle’s maternal grandmother and her fifteen children upon the seeds of two mãng cầu fruits (cherimoya) that were gifted to my husband and I by a mother whose son was released from an immigration hold, further illustrating the intricacies of law as it pertains to immigration, and how it continues to affect generations. They are carried in a chiffon pouch upon which I transcribed an exerpt of Michelle’s interview.
Áo Dài for Jenny, 2022, vintage buttons and ink from typewriter inherited from my youngest auntie, Cô Bé (Cô Hoài) on chiffon [photos forthcoming]
This áo dài was inspired by the oral history of my dear late sister Jenny Do, as an addition to Things Hidden, whose garments each hang from delicate branches that Jenny and I gathered during our last visit together before she passed on. Her oral history, transcribed onto translucent textile, tells of the heart she had for alleviating the hardship that she witnessed in children and in humanity, her dedicated efforts in preserving Vietnamese arts and culture, and her inspiration behind the Áo Dài Festival, which she seeded and co-created with her community. This work memorializes her life and her contributions to the City of San José and beyond, wherever she felt that her service was needed. Bless you, JennyBoo.
Free Birds, 2022. Cotton harvested from the farms in which my husband and his family labored, cyanotypes made by community members, paper stained with tea harvested in Việt Nam.
These passerines were made with love by Vietnamese American community members during the Preserving Memories workshop for Hidden Heritages. This multi-layered project is a continuation from Free Birds. Hatched during the pandemic, and in collaboration with Photographer Bình Danh, we held an online workshop wherein community members chose objects that held deep meaning for themselves, wrote about their relationship with the object and what it told them of their history. We then created cyanotypes that encased these items and their historical significance as transcribed by participants. I then made free birds from these prints, each with a pocket that holds participants writings typewritten on paper stained with tea harvested in Việt Nam, as the carrier pigeons who delivered messages during war. Here, our flight of Vietnamese greenfinches nest in the heart of our city.
Mapping Memories, 2019. Ink, acrylic, on acetate upon maps of Việt Nam. Created by our elder community members at Olinder Community Center.
This project served as a method for the elder to document his/her history, migration, and displacement. Drawing from memory, and layering their histories, our elders were led in this map-making, mixed media project wherein participants recorded their journey from motherland to the United States. The final works resulted in windows through which we witness their migratory paths. What astounded me was that after all these years, they recalled the dates clearly as they recorded their trajectories from Việt Nam to their resettlement in San José.