Western student and artist, Nhi Uyen Ngo, recounts how her early years in Vietnam fueled her passion for art.

by Hannah Cross

For Nhi Uyen Ngo, art has always been more than a hobby. Art has become an escape from the societal and cultural expectations that have haunted her since a young age.

Growing up in Vietnam, Ngo experienced education in a way that is completely different from the academic experience of the U.S.. She recounts the first eight years of her life as being filled with rigorous and exhausting school days, both mentally and physically.

“I felt like I was never home. I never had a break to just be a kid,” she said.

In Vietnam, it is common for school days to last from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with the addition of Cram school, lasting from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and extracurricular activities from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. Ngo would be in school for over 12 hours every Monday through Saturday, with only Sundays off.

Only when she would practice art was Ngo able to find solace from such harsh educational restraints.

Art class quickly became Ngo’s favorite part of her tediously-long days. She found herself anxiously awaiting any opportunity to pick up her art supplies and start creating a new reality.

Not only was Ngo looking to escape the societal stress of her studies, but also the cultural expectations of belonging to a family of importance in her hometown of Nha Trang, Vietnam.

“My grandpa on my mother’s side was the mayor of the city, and I had to live up to those expectations; I felt like I always had to be first in everything I did,” Ngo told me. She admits the expectations she lived under pushed her to excel in her studies and extracurriculars, which eventually made her transition to the U.S. more manageable.

For Ngo, it seemed she would spend her life in school, constantly working to prove herself to her family and peers. When, suddenly, unexpected life events led to her family’s decision to uproot their lives and move to Washington.

“My grandpa on my father’s side was struck by a bomb and left paralyzed in the Vietnam War and my family decided it was best to send him to the U.S. to get better healthcare treatment,” Ngo said “The rest of my family followed him there shortly after.”

While many Vietnamese immigrants arrived in the U.S. during or after the Vietnam War ended in 1975, Ngo and her family immigrated to be with her grandfather in 2008.

The word ‘home’ would soon take on a completely new meaning for Ngo. Her life would be altered in ways she never could’ve imagined at eight years old. The different realities she had been exploring through her art would soon seem less foreign and more realistic as she ventured into what felt like a new world.

Ngo was equal parts anxious and eager to make the move from Vietnam to the U.S.

“I stepped off the airplane in the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and was greeted by faces, features and accents I had never encountered before,” she said.

Ngo’s family moved to the area because her grandpa was getting treatment at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, Washington at the time. To this day, he lives in a hospital-provided residence near Virginia Mason where he receives medical assistance for his paralysis.

“I could see the societal and cultural differences right away when I moved here. I had free time for what felt like the first time, and I was able to make friends pretty quickly,” Ngo said.

While Ngo was sad to leave some of her family and her hometown behind, she was most excited to encounter new opportunities, mainly ones surrounding her passion for art.

“In Vietnam and most Asian cultures, art is seen as strictly a hobby. It is looked down on as a career which was disheartening for me,” she said. “Moving to America presented possibilities to pursue art in some capacity as a career.”

Due to the rigor of her previous schooling experiences and the English courses she had taken in Cram school, once Ngo started at Island View Elementary in Anacortes, her transition came with ease.

“It was scary for sure, and at times I felt misunderstood, like there were perceptions surrounding me that I couldn’t shake off, but I chose to rise above it and focus on the good happening around, and to, me,” she said.

Ngo continued to explore new art techniques as she made her way through elementary, middle and eventually high school. She remembers being shocked and pleased by the amount of art classes that she was exposed to throughout her schooling in the Anacortes district.

In a school district with an 80% enrollment rate of White students, Ngo was just one of the 2.6% of Asian or Asian Pacific Islander students in Anacortes.

“Being one of the few Asian students in my school district, I felt like I was hiding myself within their culture, but art allowed me to break free of those bonds and express my truest self,” she said.

Ngo enjoys playing around with different color gradients and exploring the freedom of art.

“Vietnamese culture emphasizes colors and how they tie back to myths and luck,” she said. “Colors represent so much more than they appear to; they can represent culture, emotion or even mythology.”

Ngo said she also likes to use colors that remind her of her Vietnamese roots and culture.

“Since I still hold onto my culture, there are different types of creative expression that inform my art, I think I bring an important cultural perspective to it,” she said. Ngo said she enjoys using her creations to visually express and relate her culture to others.

“I don’t mind when people ask me about my culture when looking at my art. Some worry that they’re being offensive, but I don’t think that at all,” she said, “I think it’s a chance to expose others to my culture and to express myself in ways words alone sometimes can’t.”

Throughout her time in the Anacortes School District, Ngo continued to practice her art outside school. One way she did so was by helping her family at their nail salon business.

“My dad had bought the nail salon from his employer before we moved to the U.S., so I’ve been helping out there since high school,” she said.

Ngo would practice nail art on family and friends and eventually began helping her parents at the salon part-time throughout high school.

Ngo’s Cram schooling proved useful when it came time for her to begin college applications. “I became pretty fluent in English pretty quickly, mainly because we focused on it so much in cram school,” she said.

Her teachers and counselors at Anacortes High School played a huge role in helping her apply for scholarships and the FAFSA. “Since my parents aren’t the most fluent in English, they couldn’t really help me with applications, so having that support was so important.”

Ngo said she loves to blend colorful designs with profiles to create abstract portraits.

It was because of this support that Ngo was first introduced to the idea of attending Western Washington University, which was immediately appealing to Ngo because of the scholarships it offered and the proximity of its campus to her family in Anacortes.

“I really didn’t want to leave any more family behind; I had already done that before. I wanted to stay close enough that I could see them whenever I wanted, so Western was perfect,” she said.

After being accepted to Western on a full-ride scholarship, Ngo graduated from Anacortes High School in 2019 and began preparing for the second-biggest transition in her life:the move to college.

After a sunny and anticipation-filled summer spent savoring her last moments in Anacortes, Ngo set out to start school at the tree lined campus of Western in fall 2019.

“Starting Western was a scary transition, but I knew I could handle it because I had encountered a scarier transition before this and succeeded,” she said.

When Ngo began school at Western, she felt as though her talent was not worthy enough of pursuing a career in art.

“I think that was part of my cultural upbringing pushing through,” she said.

So Ngo took a variety of classes to see where she felt she belonged, if not in art.

“I quickly realized I wasn’t happy pursuing careers in fields like business or marketing because I wasn’t passionate about it,” she said. “My passion is and always has been abstract design and painting, and I knew that my passion for art would drive my work ethic and success.”

Ngo is currently in her third year at Western and has worked a full-time managerial position at AT&T while doing so. She said the expectations she grew up with stayed with her in some capacity and continue to push her to excel in everything she does.

She creates art whenever and however she can while she attends school. Since her childhood was packed-full of intense school days, Ngo is currently enjoying the ability to slow down her educational track by exploring different art and design classes.

“Taking my time at Western has been such a nice change of pace from what I’m used to, I really feel like I can take my time to discover myself and how I can turn my passion into a fulfilling career path.”

Ngo said coming to America and having the creative freedom to explore her passion was life changing. She is excited to continue pursuing career ambitions surrounding her passion for abstract art and design after she graduates from Western.

“I’m looking forward to taking my time as I work toward a degree. I want to let my passions guide my path, not cultural or societal expectations,” she said.