An image of a Cambodian victim of war is set in a background of colored washes and splashes of oils, acrylics, and resin. Cleansing with color that coalesce unconscious associations, which seep through cracks in my consciousness. This particular piece is of an image of a young boy. A photo was taken of him before he fell victim to the khmer rouge. In the original photo, no name is given, but simply the number “226” is pinned to his shirt. Not wanting to negate his humanity, I chose to focus on his face, to focus on his human spirit. I manipulate the background by combining oil and water to juxtapose the paradox of war and peace. The waters and oils hold the significant act of cleansing and purifying. The paints oppose each other and coagulate, ripple and crack. The process creates a three-dimensional blanket of glossy and matte color.

This work is rooted in my heritage as Vietnamese and now American. Born in war-ravaged Vietnam in 1969, with a Vietnamese mother and an American father, I see how war, not only, destroys lives and families, but the residuals of such hatred continues to influence countries and individuals beyond war years. It is my hope that in this art, dearest families, once destroyed, can heal as their visage swims to the surface of a glossy pond of acrylic and oil. Portraits yes, but also icons of innocence immortalized from a past into a present. One in which this history almost seems mythological, yet paradoxically, is still all too real in a world in which too many are wedged between empires of hatred and greed.

The process of creating this poured paint is itself a purification of personal regrets and world historical failures, imbedded in resin, waiting for renewal in a future in which love can again flower between all the people of the world. In the end, my exploration has taken me on a never-ending journey of who I am and where I came from. My work reminds me to cleanse and forgive, while always retaining that memory of the dear perfection of mankind. It reminds me to never forget loss, but also, to let it go.

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