Good Morning, Vietnam!

“Life has changed over the last fifty years for Vietnamese women, gaining more rights and freedoms — but with the pressures of family duties, work and the persistent cultural expectations of women to serve the men in their lives there, art has not been an area where many have been recognized,” explains Cecily Cullen of Metro State’s Center for Visual Art. That’s why the CVA is so excited about hosting the first major U.S. exhibition of works by contemporary Vietnamese women artists, Changing Identity: Recent Works by Women Artists From Vietnam.

Nora Taylor, professor of Southeast Asian Art at the Art Institute of Chicago, curated the exhibit to emphasize the distinct and varied perspectives of Vietnamese women in the world of art, where they have not yet gained acceptance. According to Cullen, the idea was not to find “a collective expression or style, but to challenge the idea of women artists as a singular category.”

Changing Identity opens tonight with a reception from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at the gallery, 1734 Wazee Street; a pre-reception talk by Taylor and artist Nguyen Bach Dan will begin at 6:30. Both events are free and open to the public. The exhibit stays up through August 2; the CVA is open weekdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visit www.mscd.edu/news/cva or call 303-294-5207.
June 5-Aug. 2, 2008