Hmong Veteran, from the series Attention

Pao Houa Her, Hmong Veteran, from the series Attention, 2013, archival pigment print mounted on aluminum composite, framed, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, in partnership with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, 2023.34.1.1, Courtesy of the artist and Bockley Gallery. © Pao Houa Her
Pao Houa Her, Hmong Veteran, from the series Attention, 2013, archival pigment print mounted on aluminum composite, framed, 52 38 × 42 14 × 1 38 in. (133.0 × 107.3 × 3.5 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, in partnership with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, 2023.34.1.1, Courtesy of the artist and Bockley Gallery. © Pao Houa Her

Artwork Details

Title
Hmong Veteran, from the series Attention
Artist
Date
2013
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
52 38 × 42 14 × 1 38 in. (133.0 × 107.3 × 3.5 cm)
Copyright
Courtesy of the artist and Bockley Gallery. © Pao Houa Her
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, in partnership with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center
Mediums Description
archival pigment print mounted on aluminum composite, framed
Classifications
Subjects
  • Portrait male
  • Occupation — military
  • Dress — uniform — military uniform
Object Number
2023.34.1.1

Artwork Description

Pao Houa Her created the Attention series after attending a distant uncle's funeral, where to her surprise she witnessed a military-style ceremony performed by Hmong men in uniform. The men told Her they were not affiliated with any branch of the US military. They had learned the burial rites from YouTube videos, and had purchased all their uniforms, pins, and medals.   

The men belonged to the Special Guerrilla Units that had been trained and led into combat by the CIA in Laos during the Vietnam War, in which an estimated thirty-five thousand Hmong soldiers died. After the war, these veterans and their families fled to the United States, establishing today's Hmong American diaspora. Echoing traditions of official portraiture in Western art, Her's photographs express the men's continuing desire to re-insert themselves into US military history through self-fashioning, drawing attention to their omission from official narratives.

Works by this artist (33 items)

William H. Jackson, Yellowstone National Park, 1873-1879, photographs, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the Library of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 1989.66.1.1-85
Yellowstone National Park
Date1873-1879
photographs
Not on view
Summit of Pike’s Peak
Dateca.1880
albumen print, mounted on cardboard
Not on view
William H. Jackson, Grand Cañon of the Colorado, ca. 1880, albumen silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase from the Charles Isaacs Collection made possible in part by the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 1994.91.85
Grand Cañon of the Colorado
Dateca. 1880
albumen silver print
Not on view

More Artworks from the Collection

Ethel Reed, Folly or Saintliness, 1895, heliotype on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1976.5.3
Folly or Saintliness
Date1895
heliotype on paper
Not on view
Unidentified (American?), (Untitled--Two Girls), ca. 1875, mechanical reproduction on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1970.355.807
(Untitled – Two Girls)
Artist
Unidentified (American?)
Dateca. 1875
mechanical reproduction on paper
Not on view
Henry Wolf, Robert William Vonnoh, Phoebe, 1892, photomechanical wood engraving on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1973.130.74
Phoebe
Date1892
photomechanical wood engraving on paper
Not on view
Frank Hector Tompkins, Henry Wolf, Mother and Sleeping Child, 1894, photomechanical wood engraving on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1973.130.94
Mother and Sleeping Child
Date1894
photomechanical wood engraving on paper
Not on view