ABOUT VAGABOND
Vagabond co-curators Philippa Hughes (left) and Anthony Le (right) | Photo by Maansi Srivastava for NPR
Vagabond celebrates the expansiveness of the Vietnamese experience in America, rooted in the DMV. After 50 years since the war in Vietnam ended, it’s important to capture the current perspectives of the diaspora because we are not solely defined by the trauma of war and displacement. Vagabond offers counter narratives from the 1.5 and 2nd generation of this underrepresented community while highlighting multi-cultural intersectionality.
A core value of Vagabond projects is that there’s no one way to be Vietnamese, and therefore we can embrace all the different ways to be Vietnamese with love, acceptance and curiosity as the foundation of building community.
We are interested in fostering conversations about identity. These dialogues are a joyous reminder that our relationship to heritage, identity and community continue to evolve. If we work collectively, we can also shape positive community values that free us from the shame of feeling like we’re not “Vietnamese” or “American” enough. We are enough and more.
FROM the creators
“We’re trying to figure out where we fit in the world, where we belong in the world, no matter what your identity. That’s kind of a fundamental human question that we all want to know the answer to, and it’s a lifelong journey to figure it out.”
—Philippa Pham Hughes
Project 1: 2024 Art Zine
Our first project is an art zine featuring 13 Vietnamese visual artists, musicians, poets and writers, mostly based in the DMV. The zine features artist interviews and photos. Each artist was also commissioned to write a letter to their younger selves as an act of self-love. The project was supported by Wherewithal Grants, a regional regranting program of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts administered by Washington Project for the Arts, and a grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Vagabond is archived by the Library of Congress and The People’s Archive in Washington, DC.
FROM THE creators
“Since the pandemic, I keep meeting Vietnamese artists in the art world here in D.C. and from around the area, as well. I’m so delighted each time because I grew up in Tennessee where there weren’t many Vietnamese people. To see these artists out here displaying different types of work has been really inspiring.”
—Anthony Le
Project 2: 2024 Art Exhibition
For our second project, Vagabond presents “50 Years of Hope and Ha-has,” a Vietnamese American art exhibition that celebrates the expansiveness of the diaspora, rooted in the DMV. In Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech “Beyond Vietnam,” Dr. King addressed the importance of understanding the Viet experience in saying, “we may learn and grow and profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition.” The exhibition features works by 18 artists and four zine collectives. The theme of resilience is interwoven through joy, memorial, heritage, catharsis, solidarity, representation and community. This exhibition is funded by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and curated by Anthony Trung Quang Le and Philippa Pham Hughes.
Vagabond co-creator
Anthony Le
Anthony Trung Quang Le is a Washington, D.C.-based multidisciplinary artist and identifies as Vietnamese, American and Queer. They explore the joy of nonconformity across painting, video, sculpture, printmaking, performance and curation.
Le co-founded Vagabond, a platform dedicated to amplifying Vietnamese American artists through projects such as a self-published 2024 art zine and the exhibition 50 Years of Hope and Ha-Has at the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH).
Le is a three-time CAH Fellow (2023, 2024, 2025), and their work is part of the DC Art Bank Collection. In 2023, Le presented their solo exhibition “Golden Looking Hour” at Transformer in Washington, DC.
Vagabond co-creator
Philippa Pham Hughes
Philippa Pham Hughes is a Social Sculptor, Cultural Strategist, Curator, Visiting Fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins, and Visiting Artist For Art & Civic Engagement at the University of Michigan Museum of Art. She applies relational thinking and an aesthetic of care and delight to her work in democracy building, civic engagement, and repairing the social fabric of our country one creative conversation at a time. Philippa draws from the arts and humanities to design spaces for honest conversations across political, social, and cultural differences. She has produced hundreds of creative activations since 2007 for people who might not normally meet to engage with one another in unconventional and meaningful ways. She also curates multi-disciplinary art exhibits & experiences.
VAGABOND ZINE
FEATURING 13 VIETNAMESE ARTISTS
