Arise. Shine. Thy Light is Come. (Forthcoming)

A film by Tamotsu Timo Tome
Produced by Manoa Sky Films
Release date: December 12, 2023

While working on a mural at LAX, I had the privilege of meeting Tamotsu as he and his family were flying in from Hawaii. As life would have it, we had the opportunity to spend the day together on site, discussing faith as a driving force, life and the meandering paths it offers to us, love and family, our lingering hopes for the future, among other important topics. It was a joy to commune with him, as we both worked out our craft—him behind the lens, and me behind the brush.

View Manoa Sky’s documentary film Arise. Shine. Thy Light is Come that captures the creative process and the heart behind the mural and the life’s work.

Manoa Sky Films has a heart to document the heart of the people whose heart is to serve. What an immense blessing to be sharing in this life with these precious ones!

My deepest gratitude to Tamotsu and Manoa Sky for your grace, generosity, and most intentional work. And much extended thanks to Tim for helping to make this happen!

Watermark: Vietnamese American Poetry & Prose, 25th Anniversary Edition 

Published by DVAN and Texas Tech University Press Edited by Barbara Tran, Monique Truong, and Khoi Luu
Publish date: April 2023
Author’s panel: Saturday, June 3, 2023 10am-9pm PST
Location: Santa Ana Public Library, Santa Ana, CA (learn more)
Book launch and celebration: Thursday, November 16, 2023 7-9pm EST (learn more)
Location: 1969 Gallery, 39 White Street New York, NY 10013

Watermark: Vietnamese American Poetry & Prose was first published in 1998 by the Asian American Writers’ Workshop In celebration of Vietnamese American writers.

It is my honor to be contributing some words and visual artwork to Watermark’s 25th Anniversary Edition. One of my mixed media works will appear on the cover, encasing the rich words of our contemporary Vietnamese American writers. How exciting to be included in this celebration of Vietnamese American literature.

Thank you, Barbara, Monique, and Khoi for the invitation to contribute.

Watermark mentioned in USA Today

<< an excerpt from a piece titled From the Snare of the Fowler, 2019 

Huế Children’s Shelter adopts a float for GO-BGC in memory of Jenny

In honor of our belovèd JennyBoo, I’ll be working with MBARI Engineer Tom O’Reilly to draw on an adopted float that will include designs created by the children residing at the Friends of Huế Foundation’s Children’s Shelter in Việt Nam. The float will also be adorned with an orchid+tea leaf garland made specially for this project by Minnie Uyen Thai. Jenny was a world-traveler who was enamored by the mysteries that science could help us understand, so this is a beautifully fitting way to celebrate her life and memory together with the children whom she so deeply adored, while taking part in this unique project to help us learn more about our changing oceans!

View the data that is being collected by this awesome robot
Take a closer look at our collaboration
View our lecture, with the children, The Art and Science of Jenny’s Float
[in Vietnamese, English, and Vienglish and Englimese! :) ]

Tracing Roots: Trinh Mai Finds the Beauty in Life through Honoring Cultural Heritage.

An interview with Michèle Jubilee
Published by Content Magazine, San José, CA
Publish date: Spring 2023
Location: Open San José, 38 South 2nd Street, San José, CA 95113
Friday, March 3, 2023 5pm: Fashion show by Artist|Designer Tuấn Trần presented by Chopsticks Alley
6:30-9:30pm: Content Magazine release party for issue 15.2, Sight and Sound, Issue 15.2

I am elated to have been working with Content’s beautiful team for Issue 15.2. These past couple years have blessed Hiền and I with the opportunity, time, and support to travel along the coast as we continue serving in our béloved Bay Area and Southern California communities. It has filled us with great joy to be cultivating the crop that we’ve grown together for twenty years (Thank you San José State for sowing the seed. xo ). I am humbled to be included in this publication that is dedicated to sharing the processes and stories of Bay Area creatives.

I’ll also have a couple works in display at this event, as Content rings in its 11th year of publications, featuring 1,500+ creative individuals. Congratulations to Content!

Thank you, Daniel, for inviting me to share in my love for art and faith with your team and with our communities in these pages. Thank you, Arabela Espinoza for the beautiful photos and enlivening me with the fervor for the work that we get to do together. Thank you, Ms. Michèle Jubilee, for the edifying, encouraging conversation. I will sip on this experience for days.

Content is a quarterly print magazine that tells the stories of creatives making work in the South Bay Area.

Read our interview here for Content Magazine

How Suffering and Storytelling Can Form Us into People of Justice: An Interview with Artist Trinh Mai  

Interview with Christians for Social Action of Eastern University, PA

I have had an opportunity to discuss my work as it pertains to themes of faith and the way that, in its true form, it can continue bringing us closer to compassion, empathy, justice, and righteous behavior.

As people of faith—flawed, hopeful, and trusting in the progress that is born first from transformation—my husband and I have straddled these seemingly disparate worlds (disparate because some tend to assume they are as such, although they are so very connected), with the hope to live out our faith while also helping to shine a light upon these very real issues that some do not see, do not know, or do not want to believe.

This was an encouraging opportunity to focus on the true teachings of scripture, rather than on the ways that people have distorted and perverted the teachings for their own self-inflation.

Thank you, Kristyn and Laurie for the invitation to discuss the dark subject of immigration in a faithful light.