Campus Connection

Posted 10:37 p.m. Monday, May 17, 2021

Pump House show to feature UWL’s Mai Chao Duddeck

All her life, Mai Chao Duddeck has made art. That inspiration started years ago in Thailand, where she was born and lived for 10 years. Now following research on Hmong American women in higher education for her dissertation others will get to experience her artwork, too.

Mai Chao will be featured in “Redefining Hmong American Women” May 19-July 17 in the Front Gallery at the Pump House, 119 King St.

Mai Chao recalls her world in Thailand as a youngster divided into two seasons: wet and dry.

“During the dry season, my sketchbook was the hard-packed earth where I dipped my fingers into a bucket of water to draw my mother and her friends sewing story cloths about their experiences during the Vietnam War and life in Southeast Asia,” she explains. “In the wet season, when the earth became muddy, I found fallen branches to chicken-scratch on the soft ground with scenes of neighborhood children racing boats made from sticks and cloth down small streams.”

For Mai Chao, the world around her has always been a source of inspiration.

“From a young age, I loved recording stories with the tools I found around my environment even if they were temporary,” she notes.

Her exhibition will include 11 pieces of mixed media that will be available for purchase. Mai Chao hopes visitors will leave challenged to think about their own stories, along with a better understanding of the Hmong American women experience in higher education.

“I hope they will be inspired to tell their own stories and lived experiences; have a deeper understanding and appreciation for Hmong American women; and build stronger cultural bridges with the Hmong community and Hmong American women college students,” she says.