Event Information

* Exhibition runs Apr. 19, 2025-May 18, 2025 *

Public reception Sat., May 10, 2-4 pm

April 30, 1975 – The Fall of Saigon. This pivotal event marked the beginning of the Vietnamese refugee crisis, as families crammed into boats, braving treacherous waters in search of survival. My family was part of this history. I was born in 1990 and immigrated to the U.S. in 1997 through the refugee program, carrying with me not only my parents’ journey but the weight of generations before us.

The refugee experience did not end at arrival. In Texas and along the Gulf Coast, Vietnamese fishermen faced hostility and violence, their livelihoods burned by those who saw them as outsiders. Refugee crises are not anomalies in history; they are constants. How we respond to them defines us.

Through my art, I explore this ongoing narrative of displacement and resilience. Using digital manipulation, gel medium transfer, and mixed media, I layer past and present, blending archival imagery with contemporary techniques to reconstruct memory. By distorting, transferring, and reassembling these images, I challenge the way history is remembered and forgotten. My work is not just a reflection of the past — it is a lens through which we see ourselves today.
–Bao Yen Nguyen, resident artist at Montpelier Arts Center