reconstructing an exodus history: boat trajectories from Vietnam and flight routes from refugee camps and of ODP cases

Tiffany Chung, reconstructing an exodus history: boat trajectories from Vietnam and flight routes from refugee camps and of ODP cases, 2020, embroidery on fabric, overall: 55 in. × 137 3⁄4 in. (139.7 × 349.9 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment and through the American Women’s History Initiative, 2021.37

Artwork Details

Title
reconstructing an exodus history: boat trajectories from Vietnam and flight routes from refugee camps and of ODP cases
Artist
Date
2020
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
overall: 55 in. × 137 3⁄4 in. (139.7 × 349.9 cm)
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment and through the American Women’s History Initiative
Mediums
Mediums Description
embroidery on fabric
Classifications
Subjects
  • Object — written matter — map
Object Number
2021.37
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2021.37

Artwork Description

Delicate trails of scarlet thread embroidered across oceans of fabric represent the real-life journeys of refugees who fled Vietnam in the late twentieth century. Tiffany Chung compiled these routes to capture a perspective that had never been told: those of people like her family, who were forced to escape after the war ravaged their home country.

For Chung, the map is a way to frame her own experience. Having lived through the war and a subsequent move to the United States, she is fascinated by how political events change the world in ways big and small, shaping large-scale geographies as much as individual lives.

Works by this artist (1036 items)

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William H. Johnson, Portrait of a Man, ca. 1935-1938, oil on burlap, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.814
Portrait of a Man
Artist
Dateca. 1935-1938
oil on burlap
On view
William H. Johnson, Tehran Conference, ca. 1945, oil on plywood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.647
Tehran Conference
Artist
Dateca. 1945
oil on plywood
On view
William H. Johnson, Jim, 1930, oil on canvas, mounted on masonite, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.748
Jim
Artist
Date1930
oil on canvas, mounted on masonite
On view
William H. Johnson, Ferry Boat Trip, ca. 1943-1944, oil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.1011
Ferry Boat Trip
Artist
Dateca. 1943-1944
oil on paperboard
On view

More Artworks from the Collection

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William H. Johnson, Portrait of Jesper Anderson, ca. 1931-1932, watercolor, pen and ink, with pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.6
Portrait of Jesper Anderson
Artist
Dateca. 1931-1932
watercolor, pen and ink, with pencil on paper
Not on view
Will Heer, Untitled, 1920-1921, watercolor, ink and pencil on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Laura Dreyfus Barney in memory of her mother, Alice Pike Barney, 1974.93.16
Untitled
Artist
Date1920-1921
watercolor, ink and pencil on fiberboard
Not on view
Raymond Redell, Figure Composition, ca. 1930-1939, watercolor, india ink, gouache and pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Olin Dows, 1983.90.154
Figure Composition
Artist
Dateca. 1930-1939
watercolor, india ink, gouache and pencil on paper
Not on view
Awa Tsireh, Buffalo Deer Dance, ca. 1930-1940, ink, watercolor, and pencil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Corbin-Henderson Collection, gift of Alice H. Rossin, 1979.144.40
Buffalo Deer Dance
Artist
Dateca. 1930-1940
ink, watercolor, and pencil on paperboard
Not on view