My Tien’s art floats through the internet and into people’s hearts, minds and revolutions. The images that she creates carve out visibility, representation and a deep, community-wide reverberation. In this love letter, she pairs an image titled “Survival” with a call to care.
Inspired by Ocean’s Vuong’s letter to his mother in the New York Times, this is for mẹ lives online as a borderless mailbox for Asian identified people to share stories rooted in mothers, motherhood, motherlands, mother-tongues, and family.
The only way to survive is by taking care of each other.’ – Grace Lee Boggs.
A love letter to all my mẹ, dì, cô, bác, chị, em, (moms, aunties, cousins, and sisters) who spend your days painting nails, massaging, and pampering others while your own hands and feet are sore.
While you crouch in the back room to eat in between customers coming in.
While you smile through verbal abuse from people who don’t understand what you do and why you do it.
While people make fun of your accents or berate you for not speaking English.
I send all the love and so much more to my working class people, to my working class communities of color, to my working class AAPI communities.
We take care of one another and that’s how we reach liberation.
Contributor’s Bio
My name is My Tien and I’m a Vietnamese-American designer and artist that focuses on telling stories and experiences of historically under-represented communities, specifically the southeast asian and Vietnamese community. Representation and inclusion are the values I stand on whether I’m illustrating, designing or just existing. You can find my work on Instagram @ph.amm.
