In this conversation, Vietnamese American painter Ann Phong will reflect about her practice and cross-generational experiences of the Vietnamese diaspora in the United States. Angel in the Sea, which was recently acquired for the UTA Fine Art Collections and is now on view at the UTA Libraries, contemplates Phong’s own harrowing escape from Saigon via fishing boat in 1981, following the end of the Vietnam War.
Currently based in California, Ann Phong received her MFA from California State University in 1995. She has since worked primarily as a painter of large, abstract acrylic canvases that explore her life as a refugee and immigrant, while also engaging with broader themes of the environment and the Asian diasporic experience. For twenty-five years she taught drawing and painting at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, before retiring in 2025.
The conversation will be moderated by Art History Professor Dr. Fletcher Coleman, Special Collections Archivist Sara Pezzoni, and Visual Resources Curator Lilia Kudelia.