An Interview with artist Tshab Her by Felicia Holman

What were some of your earliest influences as an artist?

Tshab Her: My senior year of high school I had a free elective. I took an art class that fall, and it totally changed my life in every good way possible. I went to Waubonsee Community College, got my associate's in art, then sought to transfer somewhere. My painting professor recommended UIC's art program; that was the only school I applied to, and I got in. After undergrad, I kind of took a year off.

So after the post-graduation break, what brought you back to your practice?

What sparked me to get into art again is that my parents went to visit Laos for the first time since they emigrated here. So many thoughts went through my head: what does it look like for my parents, who have been living here for 40 plus years, and are now visiting as tourists a country that they had to flee from persecution? I was just very impacted by that experience as their daughter, as someone who was born here in the US.

What does the flag in We Are represent?

We Are brings me back to really honoring the work of my ancestors. I chose 18 stripes to commemorate the 18 clans of the Hmong community. Showing the distinctive clan group names is important. Initially, I planned to deconstruct the flag or a pattern that I was going to make, but in conversation with the curators, they asked, "What would it look like if you're building it, in the context of Windows to the World?" Great guidance. 

Can you talk about how elements of diaspora and family impact the flag that you're making?

I'm realizing as I get older, I am constantly going back to asking my mom for advice on how to cook something; or when I need help sewing something for an art project, or just things. So, I think now as I'm in this healing journey, I am realizing that I had never fully realized how important my mother is to me. In terms of my art practice, I feel like I was reliant on my mom and even codependent on her skills. So, in navigating this We Are project, for the first time I don't have my mom helping me sew the end pieces of whatnot.

What role has Chicago had in your exploration of Hmong identity and your own trajectory? 

The first year, I dormed at UIC (which was the only way my conservative suburban Christian parents would let me come to the city). My dorm was right across the street from the art building. That was a really great experience; the first time I felt I had agency. When I graduated from UIC in 2016, I was also working for the Chicago Public Library. For the first time, I started investigating my Hmong identity, focusing on my identities as Hmong and a cisgender woman. It was also my first time navigating race. Growing up, I definitely assimilated to whiteness; moving to Chicago exposed me to the racial injustices Black and Brown communities face, and also my own privileges as Asian.

How do you approach the social practice element of your interdisciplinary work?

I re-read my bio on the 6018North website and thought, "Social practice... What does that even look like in my practice, today? How do I include the community so it's not just my voice?" I'm also thinking right now about all the anti-Blackness that has been coming out of the Hmong community in recent months. That's something that I have been processing in terms of how I speak up for my people when my own people are the ones that are spewing hate. I guess that's where I'm at in terms of social justice or social practice.

How do you envision We Are impacting the community of 6018North?

I don't think I took the neighborhood into consideration for the actual project. That's something that I have been processing since first being in the Edgewater space and am still processing, for sure. I think a future that I would want is people who understand and know the struggles of the Hmong people and not just my experience but other communities who have been persecuted or oppressed. 

Felicia Holman is a native Chicagoan, an independent cultural producer/facilitator, and a co-founder of Afrodiasporic feminist creative collective Honey Pot Performance. Her most recent published works include reviews for See Chicago Dance and Performance Response Journal, as well as a guest essay at The Quarantine Times (published by the Public Media Institute). This interview was created as a part of the 6018North Writer’s Workshop.