ABOUT VAGABOND
Vagabond creators Philippa Pham Hughes (left) and Anthony Le (right) | Photo courtesy Le
Vagabond celebrates the expansiveness of the Vietnamese experience in America, rooted in the DMV. Almost 50 years after the end of the war, it’s important to capture the current perspectives of the diaspora because we are not solely defined by the trauma of war and displacement. The mainstream perception of Vietnamese Americans has remained unchanged for decades, rooted in the suffering of the war in Vietnam, yet nothing about our community is static. Vagabond offers counter narratives from the 1.5 and 2nd generation of this underrepresented community while highlighting multi-cultural intersectionality.
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
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
“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
Our first project is an art zine featuring contemporary Vietnamese artists, mostly based in the DMV and East Coast of America. The zine features interviews with 13 Vietnamese visual artists, musicians, poets and writers. Each artist was also commissioned to write a letter to their younger selves as an act of self-love. The project culminated in a zine launch and outdoor exhibition featuring portraits of each artist printed on weather resistant material and exhibited in the Lost Origins outdoor Alley Gallery throughout the summer of 2024.
Vagabond co-creator
Anthony Le
Anthony Le is a multidisciplinary artist and identifies as Vietnamese, American and Queer. They work in painting, printmaking, sculpture and fashion, exploring the joy of nonconformity. Le received a 2024 Wherewithal Grant by Washington Project for the Arts to create Vagabond, a zine about Vietnamese artists. They are a 2023 and 2024 DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Fellow, and their work is in 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
FEATURING VIETNAMESE ARTISTS
