We excited to feature the work of Cindy Nguyen in our Main Gallery for the months of January and February.

Join us at the Hutchinson Art Center on Friday, January 20th from 5:00 to 7:00 PM for great artwork, refreshments, and good company as we welcome our newest exhibit to the Main Gallery! Admission is free and open to the public. We would love to see you there!

Artist Statement:

“My sweet grandfather went to jail. After the Vietnam war, many of the Southern soldiers went to jail and re-education camps. In many of these camps torture, starvation, and forced hard labor were every day. He was locked up there for several years, missing out on my father's life. Despite being in the Vietnam war and going to jail, he still kept fighting for his family. Because of his sacrifices in the war, my family was chosen to get sponsored to immigrate to America. So around his fifties, my grandpa was starting a new life, intermittently working at broth and wood factories, occasionally taking up jobs as a dishwasher at restaurants. All to help support my family that was building a new life from the ground up.

I am a first-generation American citizen, and my parents moved here more than 23 years ago. My older brother was born in Wichita surrounded by many Southern Vietnamese immigrants. I was born in Hutchinson, and I am the .5% of the Asian population in my grade. I love my culture and my race, it adds to my identity, but the problem is that you feel like nobody else can understand you. They don't understand what it’s like being THAT Asian kid. This is what I want to present in the art exhibition and as an artist, to show what I think, feel, and my journey being a first-generation Vietnamese girl, growing up in Hutchinson Kansas.”