Vietnamerican
Vietnamercian is a series I started in 2015 reflecting on my life as a Vietnamese American growing up in Gulf Coast (New Orleans and Biloxi) and South Carolina. There were a few events that inspired these watercolors: the rise of Vietnamese Cuisine, “Fresh off the Boat” series, the end of Linsanity, and the Harvard Asian Admissions scandal.
Growing up Asian in America was a mix of complicated emotions and experiences. You have the feeling of being part of the melting pot of America yet never truly feel like you belong because “You don’t look like you’re from around here.” But the joy of being with my family and the love of our cultural foods were comforting.
My friends asked me a lot of questions about Vietnamese culture; their curiosity grew with the popularity of anime, Kung Fu, and the film Fast and Furious. But, they were disappointed when they found out my culture had neither calligraphic symbols nor martial arts. It was a paradox. On one hand, I was a model minority and pho was gaining popularity; on the other hand, peers called me slurs and asked if my lunch was dog meat.
As one of the few Asians in my city, it was difficult to find my sense of identity. I ultimately let others define what it meant to be Asian; opinions were shaped through our surface level social interactions rather than asking about my personal experience or history. At the same time, I’ve seen my Asian peers ignore our culture to assimilate, only to relearn everything as adults and retain our cultural heritage. I wanted to try to capture some of that in watercolor vignettes and share with everyone the range of my own experience as a Vietnamerican.
