Evanescent Beings

by Thai (Travis) Pham

This piece, measuring 150 x 150 cm, was created using acrylic paint, oil paint, gel medium, gesso, and newspaper magazine (ephemerals). The portrait is of Travis’s aunt, a Vietnamese-Cambodian who survived the Khmer Rouge genocide; surrounding her are six Khmer words, including “gold,” “aroma,” “cry/tear,” and “cook.” The portrait evokes not only the impermanence of life but also the struggle to find stability in a tumultuous world.

Thai (Travis) Hong Pham (he/him/his) is a first-year student at Johns Hopkins University pursuing a double major in Sociology and Classics. A candidate for the Woodrow Wilson Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Travis has been recognized internationally and nationally by organizations such as the Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Programs, Vietnam National Nhan Dan (People) Newspaper, the Green Brushstrokes Contest, and the Saigon Literary Arts Festival. His upbringing in the rural regions of the Vietnamese Central Coast ignited within him a desire to shed light on the injustices and inequities faced by marginalized communities through his art pieces. In the future, he aspires to use his art to continue advocating for redistributive justice and cultural reclamation.