This project explores Nguyen’s impulse to poetically dive into her personal history and experiences as an immigrant as well as her home, family, culture, and traditions. 

 

The story presented here, in a combination of still photographs and videos, is one of traveling, where a semi-autobiographical character named Thuy ventures into the space between two cultures and the resulting conflict that arises from the impossibility of complete assimilation in a new land and the difficulty of returning and reintegrating in one’s own culture. 

 

In 2010 Nguyen created this surrogate subject inspired by her own inability to travel to home, because of her visa status, and yearning for Vietnam. Forced to make peace with the distance Nguyen’s character tackles conflicting emotions, feelings, and thoughts that arise from being stuck between two cultures. 

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- Dr. Marianna Pegno, Tucson Museum of Art

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Visit this project's installment at Tucson Museum of Art exhibition page.