"Băng Qua Nước" Exhibition at CCACC Art Gallery
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My name is Ivy Vương. I am an independent curator and a current senior at Yale University studying the History of Art. I’m fundraising for Băng Qua Nước: Across Land, Across Water, the Vietnamese art exhibition I curated this past year in New Haven, CT, to travel to CCACC Art Gallery (located in the D.C. area) for AAPI Heritage Month in May 2023.
Băng Qua Nước: Across Land, Across Water is one of the first art exhibitions in the United States solely featuring works by Vietnamese (American) artists: Thuan Vu (he/him), Antonius-Tín Bui (they/them), Quyên Trương (she/her), and Thu Tran (he/him). Their works span the painting, soft sculpture, video, and cyanotype mediums and provide a lens for understanding the multiplicity of what/where ‘home’ can mean/be for migratory peoples within and beyond those of the Vietnamese diaspora.
With CCACC Art Gallery’s larger space, more of these four artists’ works as well as works by newly-added Vietnamese artists will be featured in this expanded iteration of Băng Qua Nước.
Working as both an undergraduate student and as an independent curator, however, I require support for this to happen. Uplifting underrepresented narratives like those of the Vietnamese diaspora through curatorial work is my passion. I would love for the stories, beautiful works, and impacts of Băng Qua Nước to reach a new audience, and require your help to do so. These funds will be used for transporting the artworks from New Haven, CT to the D.C. area, installing the show, providing curator and artist honorariums, and providing travel support for the artists and curator.
Your support will make this vision a reality.
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Background
The story of Băng Qua Nước: Across Land, Across Water began long before this year and is now shared by millions of others around the globe.
After the Fall of Saigon ended the War in Vietnam on April 30th, 1975, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese people, including my parents, fled their homes by traversing perilous seas. They floated for days to weeks on end in search of new homes in foreign lands. Most of the boats used were not made for open-sea travel, and many of these so-called Vietnamese Boat People perished along the way.
Importantly, the exhibition does something rare in art history, history, and institutions like museums and galleries: Băng Qua Nước celebrates a people whose lives are so often written as having ended after 1975, when in fact, they currently thrive in pockets around the world. They are so rarely represented as the resilient peoples who left beloved homes, traversed perilous seas, and sought unpromised, unknown homes with little more than hy vọng/hope in their chests.
The show opened in October 2022 with the colorful dangling arms of áo dai, or Vietnamese traditional garments, drawing the New Haven community into the Creative Arts Workshop gallery. Their shimmering fabric wave in dialogue with oil paintings (re)imagining the search for a new world, charcoal figurations of loved ones in memory, a video featuring intuitive dance across U.S. Vietnam War Memorials, and several other works in the show. They resonated deeply with many. Intended to be open for only ten days, Băng Qua Nước was extended to three months and closed this past January 2023.
Because CCACC Art Gallery is located in the Washington D.C. area, the show will be in dialogue with the national galleries whose displays reciprocally influence U.S. history and art history. In addition, by being on view during AAPI Heritage Month, Băng Qua Nước is especially relevant in shining a rare spotlight on people of Vietnamese heritage. Finally, this show opens two years before the 50th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon in 2025. Thus, Băng Qua Nước is an important lead-up to a historical moment by serving as a reminder of––and pause for reflection upon––a War which impacted millions of lives across the U.S. and around the world.
With your support, Băng Qua Nước will not only live on but also grow in its capacity for advocating for an uplifted representation and celebration of Vietnamese people now and for future generations to come.
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Co-organizers (2)
Ivy Vuong
Organizer
New Haven, CT
Laura Suroviak
Co-organizer