Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Archival pigment prints, dimension 16 x 20, 40 x 30, and 40 x 50 inches
The images in Viet Nam, Nebraska form a multidimensional self-portrait of Lincoln’s Vietnamese community. Through his lens, artist-in-residence Binh Danh explores how the Asian body has come to inhabit the landscape of Nebraska in the years following the Vietnam War, and how the first wave of refugees sought to preserve the heritage, customs, and spirit of their homeland.
Portraits of community members are interwoven with family photographs, offering an open-ended narrative of what it means to be Vietnamese American. Drawing inspiration from Nebraska photographer Solomon D. Butcher’s archive—documenting the settlement of homesteaders on the Great Plains—Danh connects past and present, memory and place.
We hope these images spark intergenerational dialogue and deepen our understanding of a shared American story—one enriched by migration, resilience, and cultural continuity.
This project is generously supported by a grant from the Lincoln Community Foundation on behalf of the Edith Madden Fund. Special thanks to Sheldon’s project collaborators: the Asian Community and Cultural Center, UNL’s Asian World Alliance, and Sigma Psi Zeta.
