Watch my latest project
1975: A Vietnamese Diaspora Commemorative Initiative
interview with GBH News from April 29, 2024
2024
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Community Engagement Is Underway for a New Vietnam War Memorial in Dorchester
MAY 01, 2024
In Fields Corner in Dorchester, members of the neighborhood’s vibrant Vietnamese community have long wanted a Vietnam War memorial to call their own.
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Robert Jan van Pelt, Boston Design Week and Ngoc-Tran Vu
April 30, 2024
About The EpisodeWhat’s past doesn’t need to be prologue. That is the point of the exhibition “Auschwitz: Not long ago. Not far away,” — to learn about the atrocities of the Holocaust so that history is not repeated. From the concrete posts used to fence in the camp, to a gas mask used by SS garrison members, to the suitcases and journals belonging to the prisoners — hundreds of original artifacts tell the horrors of those who suffered and were killed at Auschwitz during World War II…
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1975: A Vietnamese Diaspora Commemoration Initiative honors Black April
Michelle Dang, Arts Writer
April 29, 2024On April 20, the Vietnamese community of Dorchester gathered at the Intergenerational Cultural Commemoration Event in Dorchester’s VietAID Community Center, hosted by the 1975: A Vietnamese Diaspora Commemoration CLICK HERE TO READ FULL ARTICLEInitiative.
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Fields Corner gathering recalls Vietnam’s ‘Black April’
By Vanessa Lee, Special to the Reporter
April 24, 2024
Traditional Vietnamese music filled a dimly lit room at Dorchester’s VietAID Community Center last Saturday as hundreds of people entered the space. Blue waves were cast onto the ceiling while candles flickered at every seat in remembrance of the soldiers who lost their lives during the Vietnam War. -
Saturday event in Fields Corner highlights Vietnamese culture, 'Black April'
By Vanessa Lee, Special to the Reporter
April 19, 2024
The 1975 Vietnamese Diaspora Commemoration Initiative is hosting an "Intergenerational Cultural Commemoration Event" in Fields Corner on Saturday, April 20. -
Art New England
Artist Ngoc-Tran Vu got nominated to be one of the 10 Exceptional Emerging Voices in New England.
2023
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Dec. 16 meeting to launch ‘Healing Memorial’ effort for Vietnamese community
By Cassidy McNeeley
December 7, 2023A grassroots group that plans to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the War in Vietnam in 2025 will convene its first public meeting about their ideas on Saturday, Dec. 16 at the VietAID Community Center on Charles Street. The meeting, which will take place at noon, will include a discussion about an proposed art installation located in Fields Corner.
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Meet Ngoc-Tran Vu
JULY 13, 2023
We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ngoc-Tran Vu. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ngoc-Tran below. -
New mural on a food pantry wall in Neponset aims to feed the mind
By Cassidy McNeeley
June 14, 2023What was once an empty brick wall on the corner of Neponset Avenue and Minot Street has been transformed into a mural created by the Dorchester artist Tran Vu that speaks to “feelings of food.”
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‘Artists in Conversation’ panel addresses isolation felt by immigrants
By Christina McCabe, news staff
February 22, 2023Artists Mimi Bai, Gohar Dashti and Ngoc-Tran Vu all share a common experience — they immigrated to the U.S. at a young age and started a journey that proved to be harder than they expected.
2022
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Ngọc-Trân Vũ: Cultivating community through creative collaboration
By Amanda Winters
December 15, 2022Ngọc-Trân Vũ has always used art as a medium to share stories about her identity as a Vietnamese immigrant living in America. When she accepted the opportunity to create a mural themed around Vietnamese culture and stories on the side of a Vietnamese-owned building housing Phở Hòa, a Fields Corner staple, she got the entire community involved.
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On Belonging: In Conversation with Ngoc-Tran Vu
This past July, artist and 2021 Collective Futures Fund grantee Ngoc-Tran Vu celebrated thirty years in the United States with her family. Just weeks later, she was in Vietnam again, on a group pilgrimage through the country’s sites of loss and suffering, tracing the timeline of the Vietnam War. For Vu, each visit to Vietnam is different, because each time she is different. “Certain information is only available to me depending on the growth in my life,” she shares.
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Dorchester Reckons With Deportation, Displacement at #WhoBelongsHereWhoDoesnt Exhibition
By Mehr Singh, Editor
October 4, 2022On Saturday, September 24, at Town Field Park in Dorchester, visual artists, performers, organizers, and community members gathered to commemorate the new #WhoBelongsHereWhoDoesnt art initiative. The free, outdoor, multimedia exhibition aims to amplify Southeast Asian refugee voices that are too often left out of mainstream discourse surrounding U.S. immigration policy.
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Free outdoor exhibition to showcase Southeast Asian stories of home, displacement
By Daniel Sheehan, Arts & Features Editor
December 3, 2020The exhibition features artist Ngoc-Tran Vu who is collaborating with Boston City Hall, Asian American Resource Workshop, Olmsted Now Parks Equity, and Sam Lê Shave, among others.
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For Olmsted's 200th birthday, a renewed effort to make Boston's parks welcoming to all
By Rupa Shenoy
September 2, 2022It's about, you know, equity — I mean thinking about this sense of belonging,” said lead artist Ngoc-Tran Vu. “It’s about who belongs here, and who's not welcome.”
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NGOC-TRAN VU ON BRINGING SOCIAL ISSUES INTO THE OPEN
By Grace Ramsdell
August 30, 2022On September 24, Ngoc-Tran Vu will present a public interactive arts exhibition in collaboration with Sam Lê Shave, the Asian American Resource Workshop and others at Town Field in Dorchester to amplify Southeast Asian stories of home, deportation and displacement. Olmsted Now talked more with Ngoc-Tran Vu about the event, which is supported by the Olmsted Now Parks Equity & Spatial Justice Grant. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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“Be The Change” Exhibit Brings “Artivism” to the Fenway
August 16, 2022
Beginning Aug. 16, Fenway will be home to a Jewish Arts Collaborative exhibition of large-scale social justice sculptures from six Boston artists.
2019 - 2020
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Artists take over Roxbury billboard; Project aims to highlight local talent, bring joy to neighborhood
February 18, 2020
“Ngoc-Tran Vu, a Vietnamese-American artist who utilizes painting, photography, sculpture and social organizing in her practice, and Carlos W. Byron, an illustrator, painter and calligrapher currently working in photography, are confirmed for May and June, respectively.”
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Vietnamese artists take spotlight in virtual sharing of experiences
December 3, 2020
“This month, Vu and a handful of local artists are reimagining the event in a virtual livestream format that will take place Sat., Dec. 12, from noon to 2 p.m. and continue as a monthly series thereafter, providing a platform for community members to explore and unpack themes of diaspora, resiliency, memories, mental health, and healing practices in Vietnamese families.”
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With utility boxes as canvases, 3 Dot muralists hail ethnic food
October 8, 2020
Ngoc-Tran Vu of Fields Corner, Howie Green of Uphams Corner, and Robyn Thompson-Duong of Savin Hill were among the 12 artists selected out of a pool of more than 50 applicants to participate in the installation by sharing their own experience of Boston food culture.
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Downtown Boston Business Improvement District unveils ‘Tasteful Boston’
October 5, 2020
“Dorchester artist and community organizer Ngoc-Tran Vu brings an illustrative eye to a celebration of Vietnamese food culture, highlighting the ingredients that go into a warming bowl of pho soup.”
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‘Tasteful Boston’ paintings are like pick-me-ups for the food scene
October 2, 2020
“Vu calls her painting “A Closer Look at Pho,” a reference to the delicious Vietnamese noodle soup. “I wanted to highlight the healthy herbs in it and add some green to the space and [perform] kind of a deconstruction of this popular soup,” said Vu, a Dorchester resident who emigrated from Vietnam as a child.”
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Meet The ARTery 25 — Millennials Of Color Impacting Boston Arts And Culture
March 25, 2019
"After living in New York City and taking a trip to Vietnam in 2016, Trân came back to Boston hungry for a way to connect with her neighbors, specifically with the Vietnamese community and elders. In 2017, she spearheaded a mural in Fields Corner that celebrates the Vietnamese community…
2015 - 2017
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Local Artist, Activist Leads Project Honoring Vietnamese Community
November 17, 2017
“The immigrant story is one of struggle, challenges, aspirations and dreams. Boston is full of these stories in every neighborhood, from Back Bay to Boston's biggest neighborhood -- Dorchester. Artist Ngoc-Tran Vu, who goes by Tran, captured the turbulence and beauty contained in the stories of the Vietnamese people of Dorchester in a special way: A mural created in collaboration with the community.”
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Community Activists Are Bringing a Huge Mural to Fields Corner in Dorchester
September 28, 2017
“I was seeing a lack of art in Dorchester,” Tran explains. She was very aware of the long history of the Vietnamese community in the area, and felt that those two areas of interest could be combined. “I started thinking about the changing in the landscape, and how do we hang on to the histories and stories and narrative, and that’s when I really saw this important need for art.”
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Vietnamese-American culture featured in Fields Corner mural
September 28, 2017
“Ngoc-Tran Vu is a Dorchester native, artist and community organizer heading the mural project. More public and inclusive art in Dorchester has always been something for which Vu strived, but a concrete plan arose when she met Tam Le, another artist and local entrepreneur.”
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Raising Vietnamese Narrative in Dorchester: Ngoc-Tran Vu
August 11, 2017
“Dorchester is already known throughout Massachusetts as the neighborhood in Boston with the largest diversity of residents, however not many realize that a significant percentage of that diversity is Vietnamese. In fact, Fields Corner in Dorchester has even been recognized as “the heart of the Vietnamese community in Boston.”
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Mural celebrating Vietnamese heritage set for Fields Corner
April 19, 2017
“Ngoc-Tran Vu, a multimedia artist who is best known as “Tran,” has won a $10,000 grant to design and paint a permanent mural celebrating Vietnamese culture in Fields Corner. The artwork will adorn the side of the Pho Hoa restaurant across from Dot House Health and is scheduled to be completed by this fall.
“I feel honored, excited, proud,” Le told the Reporter. “Honored that Tran has decided to use our wall to create what we anticipate to be a beautiful homage to our heritage and community, excited to see the community come together to share the experience of the creation of the piece, proud of Tran and her dedication to the Vietnamese community. I could not think of a more fitting person nor a more fitting medium to achieve this than Tran’s mural,” he said.”
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Dorchester native spearheading Vietnamese oral history project
January 29, 2015
“Vu is collecting the experiences of immigrants like her own family in the first project of its kind to focus on one of the Boston area’s largest and most overlooked refugee groups. She is facilitating the recording of oral histories of both the Vietnamese diaspora in the U.S., and American veterans of the Vietnam War, to create an oral history of their journeys that will be stored at the Library of Congress.
Her work is part of public’s television’s American Experience, and was born out of “Last Days in Vietnam,” an Oscar-nominated documentary that chronicles the fall of Saigon during the Vietnam War, and was directed by Rory Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy’s youngest daughter.”
2006
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Her search for justice has taken her around the world
June 4, 2006
“Ngoc-Tran Vu's thirst for knowledge about racism and injustice has taken her to Cuba, an American Indian reservation in Montana, and along the trail of the Freedom Riders in the South.”