Artist Chau Huynh [p.3]

The imagery and inspiration for this piece comes from a tragic story Huynh’s mother-in-law once told her. While receiving treatment for lung cancer, Huynh’s mother-in-law told her about a site in Hue, where she was born, which saw some of the worst fighting during the Viet Nam War. She recounted that shortly after 1975, the local people in Hue discovered a pond where more than a hundred dead bodies had been buried. Apparently, these people had been executed. The news spread and locals began to wonder whether their relatives’ remains were in the pond. In an attempt to quell the situation, the Communist authorities ordered the local police to seal the pond and silence any rumors. Huynh’s mother-in-law never had the chance to finish the story or to reveal the actual location of the pond because she passed away shortly after being hospitalized. This quilt captures the loss and emptiness of an unfinished story. Huynh tried to reconstruct the story by visualizing the pond and how it might have encapsulated the dead bodies.

“I made this quilt in remembrance of all the lost souls in that pond and to remember a woman who has made me a better person and whom I love immensely,” says Huynh.

Chau Huynh’s lifelong dream to make art has come to fruition with her “Unfinished Story” exhibit. In it, she depicts her experiences and reflections as both a Vietnamese national and a Vietnamese American immigrant. Each of the seven quilts tells a unique story. But, pieced together, they offer a powerful narrative that explores the personal wounds and triumphs of an individual and a nation.

VietHope hosted a reception at UC Berkeley’s Worth Ryder Art Gallery in April to support Chau Huynh’s artwork. VietHope is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to promoting Viet Nam’s socioeconomic development. VietHope believes that access to education for the children of Viet Nam is key to the country’s growth and development. VietHope focuses on scholarship programs at the primary, secondary and university levels, and raises funds to build schools and libraries in Viet Nam. VietHope invites anyone who shares our dream and principles to join us, regardless of ethnicity, nationality, political and/or religious affiliation. For more information, please visit www.viethope.org.

’Connection‘ A Tribute to Vietnamese Women Nail Salon Workers

In addition to the seven quilts on display at Worth Ryder Art Gallery, Chau Huynh’s exhibit also includes an installation entitled “Connection.” Huynh made “Connection” to honor her mother-in-law, Mai Thi Hoa, who worked in a nail salon for 20 years. The installation includes three spa buckets used in nail salons. Each spa bucket is painted with three red stripes on a yellow background—the same pattern and color as the flag of South Viet Nam. As any Vietnamese American can attest, the connection between nail salons and Vietnamese immigrants runs deep.

“Six days a week my mother-in-law scrubbed and cleaned more than 15 pairs of feet to make money to care for her husband and children, and her extended family back in Viet Nam,” says Huynh.

As a result of her toil, Mai Thi Hoa was able to send her four children to college and support Huynh at UC Berkeley. Thanks to her financial support, her nieces and nephews also finished high school and most went to college.

Like Mai Thi Hoa, many Vietnamese women in the U.S. work to support their families in America and Viet Nam. In creating this installation, Huynh wanted to acknowledge and honor her mother-in-law and all Vietnamese women who have made innumerable sacrifices to provide a better future for their families, and in many cases, for the future of Viet Nam.

The development of Viet Nam over the past 20 years may be largely attributed to the labor of Vietnamese women. And the growth of the Vietnamese American community in the last three decades has come, in part, on the backs of Vietnamese women. As a community, we owe much to these courageous and strong-willed women.

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Nam Tran Nguyen is the co-founder and current president of VietHope. He may be reached at nam-tran@viethope.org.