How Pink Donut Box Portraits Capture the Spirit of Cambodian Refugee Experiences | Artbound | KCET

PBS SoCal2 minutes read

An artist named Phung Huynh tells stories through portraits, focusing on Cambodian refugee experiences through drawings on donut boxes, depicting the intergenerational impact on Cambodian Americans. Collaborating with Self Help Graphics & Art, he uses art to preserve his family's refugee experience, serving as a healing tool for personal and intergenerational trauma, emphasizing community-based art for positive social change.

Insights

  • Phung Huynh uses portraiture to tell stories, specifically focusing on the Cambodian refugee experience and the prevalence of Cambodian refugees owning donut shops in California, showcasing the intergenerational impact on Cambodian Americans.
  • Through collaboration with Self Help Graphics & Art, Huynh's art aims to preserve and pass on his family's Southeast Asian refugee experience, serving as a healing tool for personal and intergenerational trauma within the community, highlighting the significance of community-based art for positive social change.

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Recent questions

  • Who is Phung Huynh?

    An artist focusing on storytelling through portraiture.

  • What is the focus of Phung Huynh's art?

    Storytelling through portraiture, capturing individuals' spirit and mannerisms.

  • What is the significance of the pink donut box series?

    Highlights the Cambodian refugee experience and donut shop ownership.

  • How does Phung Huynh use art as a healing vehicle?

    By focusing on personal and intergenerational trauma within the community.

  • What is the aim of Phung Huynh's collaboration with Self Help Graphics & Art?

    To preserve and pass on the story of his family's Southeast Asian refugee experience.

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Summary

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Donut box art tells Cambodian refugee story.

  • Phung Huynh, an artist, focuses on storytelling through portraiture, particularly capturing the spirit and mannerisms of individuals. His series of drawings and prints on donut boxes sheds light on the Cambodian refugee experience, highlighting the prevalence of Cambodian refugees owning donut shops in California.
  • The pink donut box series initially featured Huynh's immediate family and expanded to include Vietnamese and Cambodian refugee friends, showcasing the intergenerational impact of the Cambodian refugee experience on Cambodian Americans born in the United States. The donut kids, born in the US to families owning donut shops, are depicted in vibrant colors symbolizing the donut shop environment.
  • Collaborating with Self Help Graphics & Art, a community-based organization in Boyle Heights, Huynh created prints focusing on the donut kids. Through his art, he aims to preserve and pass on the story of his family's Southeast Asian refugee experience, using art as a healing vehicle for personal and intergenerational trauma within the community, emphasizing the importance of community-based art for positive social change.
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