Tiffany Chung is a Vietnamese American Artist who specialises in Multimedia painting. She explores various themes in her artworks, such as migration, conflict and the effect of the shifting of political and geographical standings in countries.Chung was born in Dang Nam, Vietnam in 1969 during the Vietnamese War and immigrated to the USA as part of the mass departure from the country. Her works have empowered women in the Vietnamese community and tell the immigrant story from a Southeast Asian woman's perspective.
Famous Works:
Note: Most of her most famous art is more contemporary and was made in more recent years.
Past is Prologue (2019): Chung's first solo exhibition, Past is Prologue, tells the story of the Vietnam War through the eyes of Vietnamese refugees.
Insecurities: Tracing Displacement and Shelter (2016): Made to explore solutions for refugees around the world, Tracing Displacement and Shelter shows how contemporary architecture and design have addressed how shelter has been distributed to refugees around the world. The exhibition also explores the intersection of camps and the buildings of cities.
Anida Yoeu Ali
Anid Yoeu Ali is Cambodian Artist and diaspora scholar. She was born in 1974 and migrated to the USA after her family was displaced after the Cambodian Genocide. She is well-known for her installations and performing arts to convey her artworks. Inspired from her travels all around the world, she integrates religious aesthetics to express messages that investigate the artistic, spiritual and political collisions of identity. She was the first Cambodian-American Woman to have a solo art exhibition, empowering women of her kind.
Famous Works:
Note: Most of her most famous art is more contemporary and was made in more recent years.
The Buddhist Bug (2005-2019): One of her iconic artworks, The Buddhist Bug combines a bug-like persona, the colour saffron and a head covering to represent Liu's struggle to synthesise her upbringing as a Khmer Muslim with an interest in Buddhism.
The Red Chador (2015): Inspired by the Chador, a full body gown worn by some Muslim Woman, it represents the hyper-presence of Muslim women and the means to testify against the rise of Islamophobia, misogyny and racism.
Pacita Abad
Pacita Abad was a Filipino-American Artist who dedicated her career to tell the stories of immigration and conflict through a Filipino perspective. She migrated to the USA in the 1970s as she ran… Known for her unique art style known as Tranpuntos (stiching and stuffing a quilt and adding it onto a canvas), she also took many aesthetic elements from her travels. Such examples include masks, spiritual beings and nature. Abad's work has been displayed in many famous museums such as the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) and has enlightened the experience of Filipinos in the USA.
Famous Works:
L.A Liberty (1992): Using the Tranpuntos style, Abad paints the Statue of Liberty as a person of colour, showing how the USA falls short of its promise of generosity and hospitality, especially for immigrants in the USA.
Water of Life (1980): Depicts a mother and her children receiving water in the harsh environments of refugee camps in Cambodia.
Arpana Caur
Arpana Caur was an Indian Painter and Graphic Designer. She explored the life of a woman through her art, integrating ancient folk art and spiritual tradition into her artwork. She speaks for women by creating artwork that resonated with the struggles of being a woman, such as double standards and societal commentaries against women. Her work has been exhibited in various museums in the USA.
Famous Works:
Water Weaver (2000): While the origin of the meaning of the painting is unknown, there are many interpretations for the piece, such as a connection to nature and spirituality , feminine strength and resilience or cultural heritage and community.
Rites of Time (2005): The female figure sitting against a landscape of colour shows a symbol of resistance against industrialization and exploitation.
