Collection Overview
Curator's Statement
still in her mother’s womb when her family fled
1976. Between the determination of her father and the generosity of the
family’s Wisconsin-based sponsors, the entire extended family—all
twelve of them—emigrated to the
most Hmong refugees were not so fortunate. A few years ago, her mother returned
to Thailand to visit Hmong
refugee camps as part of a
delegation led by St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly. Though she’s an
the tales her mom brought back from that trip, Kao Lee decided to chronicle
Hmong refugee experiences in a series of paintings, the Wat Tham Krabok Collection.
Kao
Lee, herself, first set foot in a refugee camp when she was eighteen years old.
She’d never imagined anything like it before. “I couldn’t
believe how difficult life was for all of them—there’s not enough
food, the water’s dirty, there’s virtually no education for the
children. But they still have so much hope. And, seeing them, I couldn’t
help but see myself and how lucky my family had been. I feel a responsibility
to share the stories and hardships of these refugees. They should not be
forgotten.” The earlier paintings in the series—
Dreams—have a rough, almost childlike literalism fueled primarily by
earnestness. But Kao Lee’s more recent work reflects a sophistication and
subtlety that’s grown alongside her increasing comfort with the medium.
the haunting
benefit from surreal touches which
lend a neither-here-nor-there quality to the imagery that captures something
heartbreakingly true about the in-between nature of the immigrant experience.
Working
on the series has been tough for Kao Lee sometimes; creating some of these
pieces brought up some difficult emotions for her. “Working on
really hard. I saw this older man in the camp, and all he wanted was to come to
America.
He just wanted another chance. He died there, a refugee in the camps, before he
could make it out. I think about him all the time, and I know there are so many
others just like him. It’s so sad, but I wanted to do something to
remember his experience, too. Not everyone makes it.” She explains
further, “Hundreds of Hmong families and children continue to live in
poverty, suffering from chronic diseases, malnutrition, and lack of access to
education. I want people to be aware of their stories, their humanity. Mostly,
I want others to see what I saw … just how beautiful these people
are.”
--Susannah Schouweiler
Related Links
Folklore Studio
Website for Kao Lee Thao's 3-D animation studio
access+ENGAGE, Issue 8.1
Real Minnesota Flavor
Collection
Collection Classification
access + ENGAGE, Folk Art, Portraits