Tracy Dong: Tell Me About Saigon

An excerpt from the book: "After April 30, 1975, the North took over South Vietnam. I was forced into a detention camp for 3 years. I was given only one suit of clothes for my whole time there, a brown and white striped prisoner uniform. Most of my work was to cut down trees and transport lumber. At times we'd have to cross rivers where the water would reach my chest. I'd dry my only set of clothes in my tent. We were treated worse than prisoners. When I was released in 1978, my life did not return to normal, as the new government treated me differently because of my history as an officer. I had to report to the government day and night of my daily activities. I had my valuables confiscated. I could not find work, I had to use my mother's last name to work secretly at a soap factory. I had to burn the photos and any record of myself of who I was in the war. I saved up gold that I earned at the factory to use as a bribe to escape the country by boat. Finally, in 1989, after 5 attempts, me, your mother and sister escaped on a boat with 135 other people."

Tracy Dong (b. Vancouver, Canada) is a Vietnamese-Canadian artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Dong focuses on evaluating the vulnerabilities, complexities, melody, and motion of the human condition, with an emphasis on representing the Asian diaspora experience and LGBTQIA+ communities. For her, the camera is a way of finding order in complex situations, using a painterly eye to light, color, shape and line to convey their underlying mood and atmosphere. She seeks a deep, emotional connection with her subjects, finding intimate spaces and encounters amidst the chaos of the everyday.