Weaving Hope, an art installation by Yeu Q Nguyen, will be presented at the June 25, 2023 as part of the Summer Sounds Concert in Plummer Park, 7737 Santa Monica Boulevard. WeHo arts has combined the Summer Sounds concert with the Lesbian Speaker Series to host, “Free Myself: A Conversation and Concert with Sophie B. Hawkins” to wrap up Pride Month in West Hollywood.
Weaving Hope is a temporary public art project with a mission to gather over 1,000 personal definitions of hope and to uplift community resilience through art. The artist created the work during the pandemic as a way for the community to interact and connect with one another safely. The Artwork has been installed in several different cities in LA County between 2021-2022.
The Artwork consists of a 9 x 12-foot tapestry of vibrant colors and textures woven from fabric remnants that would have gone to landfills. The Artwork symbolizes the artist’s vision of America: a dream woven from hours of intensive labor, a land of many colors, an idea made richer by its containment of multitudes. The art making process is an allusion to the act of “picking up the pieces” and creating a more hopeful, brighter whole for the future.
Participants will be invited to customize their own “hope” features with provided prompts. They will then add the feathers to the tapestry and will have an opportunity to read other’s responses. The artist uses the art of self-expression to encourage participants to be vulnerable, in sharing themselves, and empathetic, in reading each other’s responses, to build up a personal and community resilience with this project, as well as celebrate both our unique individuality and common humanity.
Yeu “Q” Nguyen is multidisciplinary artist and cultural producer based in Los Angeles, best known for her vibrant, interactive installations and intricately crafted objects rich in cultural symbolism and social empathy. Her expansive repertoire of works has appeared at notable venues such as the Autry’s SouthWest Museum, the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, and the Armory Center for the Arts.
Born in Saigon and immigrated to the US as a teenager, her writing and art was also featured on the cover of the Inlandia Institute 2020 literary anthology titled “A Short Guide To Finding
Your First Home In The US.” Q has received grant awards from DCA Los Angeles, Eastside Arts Initiative, Puffin Foundation, and Santa Monica’s Art of Recovery for her art project “Weaving Hope,” which travels to communities in LA County to uplift local culture and resilience.
