Artist Statement: Trang Huynh

Thương is a powerful word in Vietnamese. Thương means unconditional love, a love that exceeds one’s personal selfishness. Paradoxically, when you add the adverb “bị” in, bị thương means to be hurt. My work explores the contradictory meanings of this word, illustrating the intertwined relationship between love, pain and forgiveness, particularly through the lens of a Vietnamese Post-War generation. Drawing from historical narratives and personal experiences, my art offers a reflection on the inherited scars left by colonial oppression, and a desire to heal and love. 

My mixed-media paintings are built through intricate layering, combining oil, printmaking, and collage. Within these layers, I make deliberate decisions about what to reveal and what to conceal. This process mirrors the complexity of memory and emotion, where past and present continuously overlap. I placed figures in moments of connection and intimacy among these densely layered settings. I am interested in what it means for painted figures to exist within a field of personal archives - patterns, images, and objects - and how these surrounding elements shape its emotional and historical weight.  

I incorporate archival imagery from the Vietnam-American War alongside fragments of my family’s memories, placing these timelines in conversation. Through this, I reflect on what it means to inherit history without directly witnessing it, and how such histories continue to shape everyday life. Rather than depicting violence explicitly, I approach it with care - attuned to the risk of reinforcing familiar images of suffering. I am more drawn to the quiet, complex ways pain intertwines with affection, and how these emotional residues persist across generations.