Sahra Nguyen a.k.a. NASH
Before I could walk, parents taught me to ROCK THE BOAT ‘cause they be some badass refugee all-stars. Now i’m running the legacy of Vietnamese parents who said, “FIGHT THE POWER!” and carried nothing but everything they believed in their hearts onto a boat for survival. I got that revolutionary-fighter-survivor-life-on-the-line-for-what-you-believe spirit in my blood. Born out of the business of dirty laundry and hard knock floors, I’m a tumbleweed hustler of many fronts. I don’t got morphing superpowers, but I do hope to transform the world in more ways than one. Come journey with me!
Art
Painting is my first love. Fresh out of my mother’s womb, creating art with bare hands felt more magical to me than all the Disney happy endings combined. I continued under the mentorship of living legends, Problak and SWAT, at Artists for Humanity; by 15 years old I had sold my first painting and was a city-wide exhibiting artist. In 2006, I was featured in my first collaborative showcase called Foundations: In the Raw, featuring the artwork and experiences of Asian American womyn. In 2007, I had my first solo installation art show called Limited Edition City, showcasing cereal box sneakers and paintings to shed light on sweatshop and labor exploitation amidst the sneaker freaker hypebeast madness. In 2008, I organized Make it Rain, an art show fundraiser for the rebuild-ing of schools post-Katrina in New Orleans.
Writing
Then I learned how to talk. Through writing, I discovered the impact words have on the world. I use the word “writing” loosely because I am a believer in the power of words in all its beautiful forms–from creative writing (poetry, prose, anecdotes, etc.) to scholarly research–and I don’t really identify with any one form of “writer”. In high school I started writing and performing under the mentorship of legendary poet, Giles Li (yes, he is still alive!). Since then, I’ve per-formed in cities across the country such as Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, New York and Minneapolis. My creative focus is currently on poetry and verses; on the scholarly tip, I hope to to one day complete my undergraduate research thesis on Asian American mental health issues concentrating on suicide rates, which was started under the guidance of legendary Ethnic Studies pioneer, Ronald Takaki (R.I.P.!)
Guerilla Love
I like to start beef and shit…no…just kidding not really. In high school, i discovered my power as a young person under the mentorship of Gee Q & Sophia Kim through the political grassroots Coalition for Asian Pacific American Youth (CAPAY)–we the youth, organized leadership conferences, guerilla theater against surging youth violence in the city, rallies against school budget cuts outside the State House and like madness. I read books like Autobiography of Malcolm X and Fight the Power by Chuck D…and sat alone in the lunch room…no just kidding not really. Eager to expand my consciousness on social movements and explore different communities, I moved to California for college so that I could take advantage of the Ethnic Studies programs (at Cal and UCLA) and streng-then my community organizing skills. Throughout my four years, I worked with diverse communities throughout the Bay Area, Los Angeles and UCLA campus on issues such as immigration reform, inner city violence prevention, legalization for undocumented students, Vietnamese deportation, access to higher edu-cation for low-income and immigrant families, youth empowerment, womyn’s empowerment and watering unwanted weeds that struggle to rise above the cracks of society to bloom for the world to see.
Blah blah blah. You get the point. I just want the whole world to get along. That’s all. Cake, baby.
Welcome to my intro.