Artist Statement
I grew up in a traditional Vietnamese household where I was taught that men should contain their emotions. My work begins with the strain of that restraint: the masks we build, the moments they fail, and the confusion that follows when hidden feelings break through. Through self-portraiture, I examine how suppression reshapes the body and how learning to express emotion can become a form of self-recognition.
My process moves between photography, digital manipulation, drawing, sculpture, and 3D materials. Photography gives me a direct way to stage expressions and gestures; digital tools let me push those images between observation and imagination. When I introduce physical materials and dimensional forms, the work becomes less controlled and more tactile. The difficulty of working with unfamiliar media is part of the process. Each material tests how fully an emotion can be carried outside the body.
I want viewers to encounter emotion as something physical rather than private or weak. Across these works, fragments of the self crumble, bloom, and remain exposed. The images trace my movement from concealment and paranoia toward a more deliberate openness: not the absence of restraint, but the ability to choose what I reveal.
