http://www.talkingthewalk.net/HuongAbout.html
WASHINGTON DC EXPOSITION
Nearly 15 years in the making, Huong’s Peace Mural is the culmination of searing memories that brings history to life and depicts the universal pain of war and hope for peace. The complete mural includes nearly 2000 paintings. When fully presented, the mural stands 8′ feet tall and 600 feet long. Exhibition of the mural often includes a number of free-standing pieces from Huong’s private war/peace collection. The combined presentation captures highly evocative images and concepts depicting multiple themes including: Voices of Children; Voices of the Troops; Mothers in War; The Peace of all Nations; The Flag at War; The Displaced and the Disabled; The Cry of Refugees; and The Tortured.
Far more than simply an exhibition of art, the Peace Mural is highly interactive and participatory as it evokes civic engagement and calls forth from viewers a response through reflection, dialogue and civic action. Viewers are invited to “sign on” for peace by adding their own thoughts and comments to panels scattered throughout the mural. Exhibitions are typically accompanied with a series of community dialogues, educational events, artistic presentations and public actions. Most of these sidebar events take place on site at the exhibition and are sponsored by a variety of local partner organizations. The mural is both deeply spiritual and politically reflective as it calls forth citizen and community response. But most of all, it resonates a challenge and hope for peace in ways that only art can do. It inspires, it disturbs, and evokes personal responsibility. The Peace Mural is an expression of “people’s art” as it informs and shapes civil society and stimulates vibrant participatory democracy.
The Peace Mural Foundation: Artist Huong has now given custody of her Peace Mural to The Peace Mural Foundation, Inc, a non-profit organization with a mission « to promote civic education and citizen action for peace and justice through the arts. » The Foundation is currently preparing to launch major exhibitions in WASHINGTON DC and New York City in the coming months, and welcomes opportunities to collaborate with other organizations to bring the Peace Mural to university campuses and communities across the United States. More About the Peace Mural Foundation
About Huong: A young journalist at the time of the Vietnam War, Huong climbed aboard one of the last refugee boats before the fall of Saigon, wearing only one shoe and carrying her infant son in arms. She first settled in Alaska where she swapped her pen for a brush in an effort to”paint out” the passions within her. Eventually she launched an art career that has captured the attention of art audiences and critics internationally. Not unlike Picasso’s own war protest painting Guernica, Huong’s paintings collectively form a body of work addressing the global issues of war and peace. Through hundreds of painted canvases, the Peace Mural is a symbol of Huong’s determination to purge our culture from the ways of war and to advance an emerging culture of peace. More About Huong
Some of Huong’s Works:
The War Pieces
The Peace Pieces
Let’s Think Peace
The Flag at War
