One Day We’ll Go Home featuring Tiffany Chung, Brandon Tho Harris, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, Patricia Nguyen and Julian Saporiti.

Emerson Contemporary, Emerson College’s platform for visual art, proudly presents One Day We’ll Go Home, a group exhibition featuring recent work by five Vietnamese American artists Tiffany Chung, Brandon Tho Harris, Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn, Patricia Nguyễn, and Julian Saporiti who each critique the established historical narratives of the wars in Vietnam, colonialism, dislocation, and their long-lasting aftermath.

On view in the Media Art Gallery at 25 Avery Street, November 1 – December 16, 2023. Free and open to the public, Tuesday – Saturday from 12-6pm. Opening Reception, Friday, November 3, 5-7:30PM.

The end of the Vietnam War and the sudden U.S. military evacuations in 1975 marked the beginning of large-scale exodus of citizens of Vietnam. The U.S. government evacuated approximately 125,000 Vietnamese that year, most of whom were likely to be persecuted by the new Socialist Republic of Vietnam government. Through video, archival footage, performance, song, and innovative storytelling, these five artists examine and expand recent histories, both personal and collective, as they address multigenerational trauma and loss. The exhibition highlights the complexities surrounding the concept of homeland for Vietnamese refugees and their children and the familiar feeling of liminality that many refugees experience across the globe. 

View exhibition documentation.

“It is my hope that through the stories these artists tell, we gain a deeper understanding of what happened in Vietnam and how these events continue to impact millions of people to this day,” said Dr. Leonie Bradbury, Emerson College’s Distinguished Curator-in-Residence. “Although this exhibition is focused on the Vietnamese diaspora and the impact of the historic events of 1975 and beyond, sadly this topic has renewed relevance today as many refugee crises are happening concurrently across the globe.” The exhibition is curated by Dr. Leonie Bradbury, Distinguished Curator-in-Residence, with accompanying exhibition wall texts by Dr. Catherine H. Nguyen, Assistant Professor of Asian Diasporic Literatures. This exhibition and related programming is supported by the Department of Writing, Literature & Publishing, Emerson College School of the Arts, and the Harvard University Asia Center.

PUBLIC PROGRAMMING

WHAT: Music Video workshop with Julian Saporiti WHEN: Friday, November 3, 2023. 10:00-12:30PM WHERE: Emerson College, Ansin Building, Room 605, 180 Tremont Street, Boston, MA Free, but registration is required. RSVP here.

Artist Talk with Tuan Andrew Nguyen, Friday, November 3, 2023. doors open at 3:30PM, 4-5:00PM.  Emerson College, Walker Building, Room 202, 120 Boylston Street, Boston, MA. Free, but registration is required. RSVP here. This program is supported in part by the Harvard University Asia Center

Opening Reception, One Day We’ll Go Home WHEN: Friday, November 3, 2023, 5-7:30PM WHERE: Media Art Gallery, 25 Avery Street, Boston, MA.

Live Concert with Julian Saporiti. Experience a multimedia musical performance from No-No Boy (singer Julian Saporiti) as part of the tour for his latest album Empire Electric. This newest release brings Asian American history to life through a uniquely inventive approach to storytelling. WHEN: Saturday, November 4, 2023, 6:00-7:30PM. WHERE: Pao Arts Center, 99 Albany Street, Boston, MA, 02111.This program is organized by the PAO Art Center and supported by Emerson Contemporary.

Live Performance, Passage (2023) by Patricia Nguyễn and Fiona. A work of experimental sound and movement, Passage explores how beauty and creativity emerge in the aftermath of war. The artists meditate upon the various thresholds and movements that happen for displaced peoples across the time and space of memory, everyday encounters of state violence, forced migration, and queer worldmaking. Tuesday, November 14, 2023, 5-6:30PM, Media Art Gallery

Vietnam and Diasporic Aesthetics: Two Meditations. A conversation with Dr. Howie J. Tam & Dr. Catherine H. Nguyen. The first event in the Writing, Literature & Publishing Scholar Series, this program is presented in conjunction with One Day We’ll Go Home and supported in part by the Harvard University Asia Center. Taking as a point of departure some works of Vietnamese American artistic production both in the gallery space and beyond, this two-part talk with Catherine H. Nguyen (Emerson College) and Howie Tam (Brandeis University) explores different approaches of receiving and encountering artworks and engages diasporic aesthetics that grapples with the legacy of the Vietnam War and its enduring questions about creation and memory. Wednesday, December 6, 2023, 5-6:30PM. Media Art Gallery, 25 Avery St. Boston, MAThis program is supported by Department of Writing, Literature & Publishing, Scholar Series, Southeast Asia Programs, Harvard University Asia Center and Emerson Contemporary

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