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| Vietnamese and Latinos connect through art Thursday, December 22, 2005 Photo essay by Jean Libby 
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His contemporary pieces utilize found objects in the community in imaginative ways — with prisms, video, and kaleidoscopes — plus framed speaking interviews with seven of the area’s residents. In a gallery walk in early December, he told of hearing the stories of immigrant residents such as Linh Nguyễn who came escaped Việt Nam by boat, surviving the dangerous journey to Malaysia, then resettling in America in 1980. In turn, the artist would tell his own saga of immigration from south of the border. Yet sharing stories between Latinos and Vietnamese was not an instant process. MACLA, also known as Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana, spurred the exhibit as one of 10 organizations nationwide with a grant from the Ford Foundation to interpret neighborhoods in transition. Its members immersed themselves in this enclave with workshops, events, classes — even free Slam Nights for young poets. Its staff worked with another San Jose organization, Việt Arts, to bring one of their board representatives, Maria Nguyễn, to go door-to-door with Lidia Doniz, a Latina education and outreach assistant, to translate at interviews with Vietnamese residents. “Breaking the language barrier immediately was the key to people agreeing to be photographed and interviewed, both Vietnamese and Spanish” she told Nguoi Viet 2. Still, it was tough convincing both Vietnamese and Latinos to participate fully. Maria Nguyễn described it as “fear of police.” In the case of Latinos, that feeling is based on the issues of undocumented workers in the U.S., who are faced with a bill before Congress, which, among other things, would make the crime of being here illegally an “aggravated felony.” That means an entire undocumented population, including 1.6 million children, would be permanently barred from the states, according to the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee. In the case of the Vietnamese, the fear, for some, means staying out of public view even though immigration is legal. **** Bình Danh escaped from Communist Việt Nam to Malaysia in 1979, when he was two years old. Like many young Vietnamese (called the 1.5 generation) he has no memory of either the homeland or his refugee camp. He absorbed and reflects this experience through an art process that he has invented, using actual leaves to print the pictures of people who have been affected by war in Việt Nam and Cambodia. Danh credits his mother’s detailed stories in building the structure for his original photographic art. **** The vinyl mural with the entire group of portraits of the “Intersections” is permanently installed outside their building at 510 S. First Street in San Jose. The design was created by Chris Valdivia. Here, Anjelica Muro, the principal photographer (with Bình Danh) of the Family Portraits Project, points out some of the residents of the Latino-Vietnamese neighborhood who took part. Muro encouraged closeness of the subjects — to touch each other, to make a circle of their arms or bodies. “In many cases they did not need to be asked, they moved together naturally,” she said. Noticeable among these images are young people with their important vehicles, from cars to skateboards. **** How do two professional fine arts photographers make portraits together? Bình Danh and Anjelica Muro demonstrate their approach. Using one subject, Monserat Cabrera, against this green backdrop, they show how she responds to the portraiture experience in her sitting. Muro teaches photography classes at the MACLA complex; Danh is an instructor at Foothill Community College and the San Francisco Art Institute. **** The signature image of the exhibit is the smiling faces of herb shop owner Linh Nguyễn, and her daughter, Hà Trương, at their store on William and 7th streets. The enclave is called the Reed-William Corridor and is two blocks wide and ten blocks long. The show will travel to Project Row in Houston in the spring. | |||||
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