Queering the Table

October 30, 2023

The Mingei International Museum

Purpose:

Viet Voices showcased the works of queer AAPI artists to celebrate marginalized voices within our community. We welcomed all community members to join in and support these talented individuals who too often do not get the space to create and have their works recognized.

Sponsors:

  • North County LGBTQ Center

  • The San Diego LGBT Community Center

  • City Heights Community Development

Collaborators:

  • Asian Solidarity Collective

  • The Mingei International Museum

A Special Thank You to the City of San Diego

Thank you City Councilmembers Stephen Whitburn, Marni von Wilpert, and Raul Campillo for supporting Queering the Table with funding from the City Council Community Projects, Programs and Services (CPPS) to make the event successful.

Meet the Artists

  • Hamsa Nguyen (she/her)

    A Vietnamese trans woman and interdisciplinary artist who is native to Los Angeles. She comes from a rich lineage of mystics and healers, and has integrated such identities into her work. Hamsa's poetry collection, Blood Frequency, has been recognized by the Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network and C&R Publishing. She is currently pioneering herbalism and yoga education for queer and trans folks, while fashion modeling for nationwide brands.

  • Einar Escoto (he/him)

    A Mindsei (Mind, Spiritual, Executive, Intuitive) Coach specializing in hypnotherapy techniques and psychic mediumship as a vehicle to help guide his clients towards their Soul healing. He received his MA in Women’s Studies from SDSU and BA from CSU, San Marcos double-majoring in Women’s Studies and Literature and Writing. His professional experience includes 10+ years in content management and production (including 3 years with celebrity life coach Tony Robbins), 14+ years in diversity, equity, and inclusion facilitation and strategy, and 12+ years in education as a higher-ed faculty, poetry workshop facilitator in San Diego juvenile halls and community schools, and as a Senior Manager in the Ed-tech space. Einar’s book about his gender transition, The Woman Inside of Me, released in Summer 2019.

  • Cat Gunn (they/them)

    A transmasc nonbinary artist living and working in Southern California. Grappling with the intersection of an untold familial history and a queer personal history, Gunn extends a series of gestures of ancestral offerings, material investigations, and creative-fictional poetics that together contemplate endless possibilities across various temporalities. Gunn has had their work included in recent group exhibitions at ICA in San Diego, Vielmetter in Los Angeles, and BEST PRACTICE in San Diego among others. Gunn received their MFA in Visual Arts from UC San Diego, where they expanded their practice into the realms of ceramics, sculpture, and installation. They received their MA in Professional Studies (Art History Concentration) and BFA in Painting from Towson University.

  • Jun!yi Min (she/her)

    A performance artist from singapore pursuing her MFA at UC San Diego. Her works bind familial tensions and queer relational desires to create context for an enduring Asian body. Jun! has performed at Bread and Salt, Teatro Morelos, St Paul’s Episcopal Church, and Qualcomm Institute. She is a co-curator for Queering The Table.

  • Britt Pham (she/they)

    A first-generation Vietnamese-Lao-American, a child of refugees, and a lover of all things disco. They design, produce, and facilitate experiences that weave the full spectrum of life - delight and nuance, joy and grief, the goofy and the real - to guide us closer to ourselves and our communities.