A traveling exhibit highlighting the detailed history of Vietnamese people who fled Vietnam by boat after the war has landed in Fields Corner through Aug. 2. “Our Journeys: A Traveling Exhibition” is being hosted in a side gallery at the new Modern Party Art store (which opened on July 15) at 1524 Dorchester Ave near Park Street.
A paper boat art installation is part of the exhibit. Seth Daniel photo
The exhibit, covering the 1970s to the 1990s, tells the stories of refugees from all over the country as well as accounts from Dorchester and Boston area residents, noted Annie Le, director of Boston Little Saigon.
Created in Pennsylvania by the non-profit Vietnamese Boat People organization, the exhibit has been to New York and will go to Oklahoma after it leaves Fields Corner, where it is being sponsored by Boston Little Saigon and Asian Community Fund/Boston Foundation.
Among the local people featured are:
• Khanh Bui, who details her story of escaping Vietnam on a boat in the 1970s and landing in a Thailand refugee camp before coming to the United States.
• David Nguyen, who was part of Operation Baby Lift in the 1975 and was adopted by a Newton family.
• Gabriel ‘Truc Phuong’ Tucker, a biracial refugee who came to the United States under a special program for children of military servicemen. Tucker only had a slip of paper with her father’s name on it and she tracked him to Pennsylvania. Her Vietnamese mother and African American father were reunited 40 years later and got married.
A panel detailing stories of refugees and boat people from Boston and Dorchester is a highlight of the traveling exhibit. Seth Daniel photo
• Minh Phan and his brother, pre-teens, who were sent by their parents out of Vietnam in 1981 to seek a better life. After a harrowing trip on a fishing boat, they found safety, and he later settled in Dorchester.
• Dang Van Kim of Dorchester, who tells of his service in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and being wounded in battle, only to watch the country unravel. He fled by boat with 150 others in a perilous journey over rough seas, and rebuilt his life here, experiencing racial discrimination as he settled in.
The exhibit is accessible by entering the Modern Party Art front doors at 1524 Dorchester Ave. Thursday to Monday, from 1-6 p.m. It will be open during the Boston Little Saigon Night Market this Saturday from 4 to 9 p.m.
