The Project
Phung Huynh applied her artistic practice and experience as a refugee and immigrant to develop strategies that build trust between LA County agencies and the region's immigrant communities and to build capacity within the Office of Immigrant Affairs in arts-based community engagement practices.
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Huynh designed a range of accessible art activities for OIA outreach events to attract people to their tables and encourage them to stay longer, enabling staff to connect more immigrants and refugees to County resources. Activities included making quilt squares, decorating tote bags, and chalk art, while take-home art kits were distributed with resource materials. To ensure sustainability long-term, Huynh mentored an OIA staff member to lead the art activities after the residency concluded.
View and download a pdf of the coloring book Huynh created.
Phung Huynh is a Los Angeles-based artist and educator whose practice is primarily in drawing, painting, and public art. Her work explores cultural perception and representation. Huynh challenges beauty standards by constructing images of the Asian female body vis-à-vis plastic surgery to unpack how contemporary cosmetic surgery can create obscurity in cultural and racial identity. Her current work of drawings on pink donut boxes explores the complexities of the refugee experience in Southeast Asian communities. Huynh has had solo exhibitions at Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills and the Sweeney Art Gallery at the University of California, Riverside. Her paintings and drawings have been exhibited nationally and internationally. She has also completed public art commissions for the Metro Orange and Silver Lines, and the Los Angeles Zoo. Huynh is a Professor of Art at Los Angeles Valley College. She is Chair of the Public Art Commission for the city of South Pasadena and has served as Chair of the Prison Arts Collective Advisory Council. She completed undergraduate coursework at USC, received her BFA degree with distinction from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and her MFA degree from New York University.
The mission of the Los Angeles County Office of Immigrant Affairs is to advance the well-being of all immigrants in the County of Los Angeles by providing and connecting with support services to help in all aspects of life, including: ONE-STOP Shop for all County services; consumer protection for you, your family, and your community; support to help you, your family, and your community succeed; celebrating your contributions in making Los Angeles a better place for all.