cara việt chi nguyễn
Preserving local histories, digging into ancestral memories, and writing towards a new world.
Inspired by the fluidity + vibrancy of Vietnam’s creative scene, HẺM 510 was born during my time as one of the artists in residence at Bathers Library in Summer 2025.
📍Little Saigon Creative SpaceA very sweet project that reminds me of the kind of work that fills my heart – film portraits taken, developed, scanned, and edited by me, of ten nonbinary + trans* + chuyển giới Vietnamese folks in the Seattle area. The whole process was an act of honoring, remembering, holding, and celebrating us, while we are still here.Special thanks to Viet Q Seattle. ♥️
Currently shooting color film with an Olympus Stylus and Pentax K1000 and trying not to spill chemicals everywhere in my makeshift bathroom darkroom.
Cara Việt Chi Nguyễn (they/them) is a San-Jose born, Seattle-educated, Oakland-based, and Saigon-rooted multidisciplinary artist. They create portraits of Vietnamese life primarily through the lenses of grief, movement, and placemaking. Their best ideas are born while stuck in traffic on the Bay Bridge, including HUSH!, the radio show they currently host on Lower Grand Radio exploring Asian American music making in the Bay Area. They are currently an Audio Academy Fellow at KALW Public Media.In past lives, they were a Content + Community Manager at Fly By Jing, a Graphic Design and Media Associate at the Northwest Film Forum, and a performing member of Jiten Daiko.Currently listening: REALITIES E.P. by XUI
Currently reading: The Mushroom at the End of the World by Anna Tsing
Currently sipping: iced hojicha
RESIDENCIES
Bathers Library
Summer 2025 Artist in Residence
Hosted zine workshops, screenings, and reading rooms dedicated to exploring DIY Vietnamese artLower Grand Radio
Host of HUSH!, streaming live on lowergrandradio.com every second Sunday of the month
AUDIO STORYTELLING
In Oakland, the musical legacy of Japanese American incarceration still resonates
Aired on KALW's CrosscurrentsErika Oba plays music with her ancestors
An audio feature exploring musician Erika Oba and the Bay Area's Asian American Jazz movement
Aired on KALW's Crosscurrents and KQED's The California ReportInterfaith protestors arrested at San Francisco ICE headquarters
Local news reporting for KALW's Bay Area Headlines
PERFORMANCES
Biển Nhớ
A live radio show by Trúc Nguyễn, Cynthia PhươngAnh Lê, and Cara Việt Chi Nguyễn, at Yu & Me Books in NY Chinatown, 2025Jiten Daiko
Performing member 2022 - 2024
Buddhist Church of San Francisco Bon Odori 2024, Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival 2023, Jtown Music Fest 2023
FEATURED IN
Sea2Sea
Guest co-host on Sea2Sea, a radio show on Lower Grand Radio about Vietnamese music and culture.
( Listen here )
The Wind Podcast
Guest speaker on Episode 2: They/Them, about how gender neutral language is working for non-binary people, and how it’s developing in English, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Portuguese and Hebrew.
( Listen here )
love, self
Contributing artist to a zine curated by Sam Choi, exploring self-love within queer, trans and/or nonbinary Asian Americans.
( Read here )
EXHIBITIONS
C-ID Love Letters 3.0
Contributing artist in the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience's exhibit highlighting works about healing and connection in Seattle's Chinatown-International District. On display in Historic Canton Alley public gallery space in Fall 2022.
Owning It
Contributing artist for inaugural art exhibition in the Friends of Little Saigon Creative Space, on display in Spring 2021.
Tết in Seattle Art Showcase
Contributing artist in online art gallery for Tết in Seattle's online festival in February 2021.
Portraits from the Overflow
Teaching Artist for YouthCAN Program at Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, Fall 2019; culminating group exhibition was on display at the museum from January 2020 – March 2020.
WORDS
Seattle Undergraduate Research Journal, Vol. 4
The Relationship Between White Supremacy and Capitalism: A Socioeconomic Study on Embeddedness in the Market and Society, an article on economic theory and critical race theory, published June 2020.
Love Letters to Chinatown
An interview about Chinatown, food, and healing with Monyee Chau, published in 2019.
One Moon, Many Tides: Trở Về Một Tình Yêu
Writer and director of award winning Vietnamese cultural show, performed at Seattle University, 2019.
RESEARCH
Publications
The Relationship Between White Supremacy and Capitalism: A Socioeconomic Study on Embeddedness in the Market and Society
Economic history and theory, critical race theory, published in Seattle University Undergraduate Research Journal, Volume 4, 2020.
( Article )Conferences
On Being Boundless: Understanding Queer Existence in a World of Borders
Queer theory and migration studies, presented at the 2019 Seattle University Philosophy Conference.
( Paper )Understanding the Claiming of Asian American Identity With Du Bois' Conception of Double-Consciousness
Asian American critical race philosophy, presented at the 2018 Seattle University Philosophy Conference.
( Digital Presentation )Academic Papers
Lessons on Love, Care, and Reciprocity: Native Environmentalist Legacies and Futures
Written for Philosophy of Oppression and Resistance class with Dr. Natalie Cisneros at Seattle University, 2020.
( Paper )The Case of the Bagong Bayani: A History of Overseas Filipino Workers and an Analysis of the Philippines’ Labor Migration Policy
Written for Economics of Gender and Family class with Dr. Bridget Hiedemann at Seattle University, 2019.
( Paper )Love Letters to Chinatown: A Study of the Resilience of a Great American Neighborhood
Written for Ethics of International and Urban Development class with Dr. Paul Kidder at Seattle University, 2019.
( Paper )Economic Research
Impacts of the 2008 Financial Crisis on Permanent Residency Rates in the United States
Economic research group project conducted under the guidance of Dr. Soohyung Lee at Sogang University for Development Economics class, 2018.
( Paper )