In poetry I sit in thought ︎︎︎ Words and definitions call upon the experience, the body ︎︎︎ Returning to the body I come to performance ︎︎︎ Performance I conjure a feeling ︎︎︎ These feelings embody memory, texture, sound  ︎︎︎ I turn inwards to a time and place called rhythm ︎︎︎ In rhythm I find poetry

Theresa-Xuan Bui (b. 1998)
︎ ︎
theresabui98@gmail.com
CV | Resume 

Artist Statement

My practice converses with ‘the other.’ I contemplate an understanding of the self rooted in time and how we serve as an interim between past and future. I do not know my ancestors and I will not meet the future. Nevertheless, I carry generations in my name. I question: How will I establish space for my loved ones, my sisters, the liminal, radical, exquisite, unseen, and all the more? To answer, I write.

I am crossed in a personal and cultural conflict between my practical understanding of being American versus the eyes of my immigrant parents. Where they see the pearly promises of America, I feel the weight of its systematic forces and its failure towards marginalized communities. Reflecting on these encounters, I deconstruct language to interrogate the complications of ownership, inclusion, and exclusion within the English language and the American Dream. Exposing these barriers allows for the possibility of a future beyond our present confines.

Bio

Theresa-Xuan Bui (they/them) is a queer non-binary Vietnamese-American artist questioning the intersections of the personal and political as a means to critically imagine the future. Through drawing and dancing, they translate their embodied practice into a performance of language and sound. The work does not seek to answer or proclaim, but rather, openly and recklessly process the self within larger power structures. They are a princess of the Bui household, a legacy of Vietnamese refugees and vanguard Asian-Americans. Born and raised in Bronx, NY, Theresa moved to Houston, TX before pursuing a BFA at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MIC/A).