All posts filed under: Art, Music & FIlm

Exhibit explores Lao refugee experience, idea of home

Published by Savannah Rattanavong

Photos courtesy of Dale Thongmahavong A traveling exhibit documenting the experiences of multi-ethnic Lao refugees opens this weekend. “Between Two Worlds: Untold Stories of Refugees from Laos,” hosted by the Center for Lao Studies, opens Saturday at Turtle Bay Museum, 844 Sundial Bridge Drive in Redding, California. The exhibit will be open from Oct. 6, 2018 through Jan. 13, 2019. According to the center’s website, the exhibit examines the idea of home and the stages of what home has meant for Lao refugees and multi-ethnic Lao Americans throughout history. It highlights life in four areas: Laos, captivity, refugee camps and America. It will make four more stops throughout California, including Fresno, San Diego, San Francisco and Sacramento. “We have been in the U.S. for at least 40 years and if we don’t gather this information and stories they will forever be lost,” Vinya Saysamouth, project co-director and executive director of CLS, said in the exhibit’s trailer. “It’s a unique story in American history and it’s also universal in many different ways.” The project began in …

Conversations With Sarky: Going Solo

Published by Saysomphorn Sisavatdy

This is Part Two in an interview series on Lao American music artist, Sarky Mekmorakoth. You can read the first interview, “Conversations with Sarky: The Early Years (Part One) here. I feel like I need to lighten the mood, so, I’m gonna ask, what are you most proud of during your career? Teaching. It’s an amazing feeling to be a guitar instructor because it’s something I love to do so much. So, to get to share my passion, knowledge, and love for music to a new generation? It’s like seeing yourself back then, when you first started and the progression. It’s cool what these kids are able to do. I get to share everything I went through, learned, and some of these kids really have it. That doesn’t happen everyday but when you see it and hear it–it’s an impact. I’ve been very blessed to get to do what I love and pass it on to more people. And to be able to do it for this long. It’s a dream. Considering how many of …