Exhibition Activity Packets
Presented by OC Parks and Viet Stories at UC Irvine, the VIETNAMESE FOCUS: GENERATIONS OF STORIES exhibition, co-curated by Dr. Linda Trinh Vo and Tram Le with original artwork by Trinh Mai, showcases the diverse experiences and histories of Orange County’s Vietnamese American community. The exhibition provides snapshots of their lives before the war, experiences during the war, paths of escape and resettlement, and current lives in Orange County. It was on display from July 2015 to March 2016.
The exhibition offered students thought provoking intersections with Orange County Unified School District’s curriculum in Language Arts, U.S. and World History, and Fine Arts. This multi-media interactive exhibition and educational activities had been designed to provide students with the opportunity to expand their literacy skills through reading comprehension, creative writing exercises, and critical thinking. As an exhibition of history and visual art, the informative panels, artifacts, photographs, and works of art presented in this exhibition introduced students to the personal stories and contextual information to broaden their cultural knowledge of the experiences faced by Vietnamese Americans in Orange County. Additionally, this exhibition combined both primary and secondary sources, giving students the opportunity to explore how individuals have lived through history.