Lots of stereotypes come with the derogatory term
“fob.” For some, it might bring to mind a confused
immigrant wearing a rice paddy hat and speaking in broken
English.
Whatever the superficial notions may be, the Vietnamese American
Arts and Letters Association and VSU.Voice intend to challenge
those ideas with the Multi-Art FOB Show, which includes a visual
art exhibit in the Kerckhoff Grand Salon Art Gallery as well as
film screenings on Wednesday and live performances today in Haines
Hall 39 at 7 p.m.
The live show will consist of poetry readings, a one-act solo
play and a skit called “Fox Demon,” performed by
veteran actors from Club of Noodles, an Orange County-based
Vietnamese theater troupe, as well as UCLA students Jenni Trang Le,
Taylur Thu-Hien Nguyen and Anh Dao Le Do.
The word fob is literally an acronym for “fresh off the
boat,” which usually applies to immigrants assimilating to a
different country. In deciding on the fob theme, the show’s
curator Tram Le, project director for VAALA and co-founder of Club
of Noodles, wanted to find a common bond that all Vietnamese people
could share.
“Whether we came here in 1975 or just arrived in the
United States yesterday, I realized we all have the connecting
theme of being immigrants,” Le said.
The term is typically used to stigmatize immigrants as
old-fashioned, culturally dense, silly and poor. To combat this
stereotype, the show asks all artists to substitute different words
in the fob acronym. “Fighting Occidental Bullies” and
“Freak of Beauty” are some examples of the artists
recreating a different identity for themselves.
“I wanted to take back that term and not allow it to be
derogatory anymore. I wanted the word to be empowering,” Le
said.
Though the word has been specifically applied to immigrants, the
theme can reach across racial ““ and even occupational lines
““ relating to anyone who has felt alienated for being
different.
“I realized that artists are fobs in our own Vietnamese
community because we don’t fit into what they have considered
their standard of success ““ that money is the only
standard,” Le said.
The exhibit will include all ranges of expression: painting,
sculpture, photography, installations and comic drawings.
Presenting creative and sometimes bizarre ways of interpreting the
word “fob,” the artist often uses shock value to prove
a point. For instance, the exhibition will feature an installation
of a man hanging by his genitalia, which happen to be a miniature
head, as well as the painting of “Bolsa Girls,” a
portrait of an Orange County gang-related female.
The show’s film component will take place Wednesday in
Young Hall CS24 at 6 p.m, presenting a number of short flicks like
Victor Vu’s “Firecracker,” Ham Quang Tran’s
“The Prescription” and Van Phan’s
“Wildcard.”
By displaying the work of Vietnamese artists under 40 and living
in California, the show represents a distinctive youthful
Vietnamese voice. According to Huong Ninh, the chairwoman of
VSU.Voice, the show allows the artists to confront issues of
today’s youth in the Vietnamese community such as the
generation gap and homosexuality.
In questioning identities and what it means to be a fob through
various media, the exhibition hopes to reach out to all types of
people and to change their perceptions.
“I’d like to expose not only Vietnamese American
students about issues within the Vietnamese American community but
also to educate the UCLA campus,” Ninh said.
SHOW: All events are free. The art exhibit will be in Kerckhoff
through Nov. 1. Live performances begin in Haines 39 tonight at 7
p.m. Films will be screened Oct. 30 in Young CS24 at 6 p.m.