Phung Huynh: Sobrevivir
Vincent Price Art Museum, September 17, 2022 – February 18, 2023
Curated by Joseph Valencia with community programming designed and led by Nathalie Sanchez, Gloria Ortega, and Hataya Tubtim
In 2018, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors apologized to more than 200 mothers of Mexican descent who were forcefully sterilized at the Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center between 1968-1974. To publicly express this apology, the LA County Department of Arts and Culture commissioned artist Phung Huynh to create a permanent outdoor sculpture honoring the resilience of the survivors – to remember the histories of women whose narratives have been historically repressed. The name of the artwork is Sobrevivir, which means to survive, to keep alive.
Phung Huynh: Sobrevivir proffers art as an instrument of repair, activating the museum as a convening space for intergenerational dialogue about reproductive justice and community healing. Original artworks and design renderings tell the story of the monument’s fabrication, while an ongoing series of patchwork quilts created by artists, advocates, and supporters engages with the history of forced sterilization on a personal and collective level. Additional programming developed with reproductive justice advocates will examine this traumatic history and its repercussions in communities of color today.