Coon Rapids High School Student’s Art Honors Southeast Asian Heritage and Family Journey

Coon Rapids High School Student’s Art Honors Southeast Asian Heritage and Family Journey

St. Paul, Minn. — For Coon Rapids High School student Nat Vuong, painting family members they never met became both an act of mourning and discovery.

Coon Rapids High School student Nat Vuong (Hometown Source)

Vuong was one of several young artists featured in the SEA Change Lab exhibition, a mentorship program of the SEAD Project (Southeast Asian Diaspora Project) that highlights Southeast Asian identity through art. The culminating showcase took place at Springboard for the Arts in St. Paul, where a dozen teens and young adults presented work created over an intensive eight-week program.

Vuong’s contributions included five paintings and one sculpture, each exploring family history and cultural identity. Drawing from old photographs and even collaborating with a grandparent on a photo shoot, Vuong used art to honor their Hmong grandparents’ journey as refugees—resettling in a new country, learning a new language, and rebuilding life from the ground up.

“All my life, I’ve been told stories about my dad’s side of the family, who I never got to meet because a lot of them had early deaths,” Vuong said. “Painting them was a way to process grief and to honor the legacy of my grandparents and their resilience.”

Vuong added that the SEA Change Lab also helped them connect with their Vietnamese roots, providing an opportunity to learn about parts of their heritage that had previously felt distant.

“It was a good way for me to become more knowledgeable about other Southeast Asian cultures outside of the ones I’m in,” they said. “I consider myself to be mostly Hmong, but I’m also part Vietnamese and I haven’t had much exposure to my Vietnamese side of the family.”

The SEA Change Lab is designed as an incubator for young Southeast Asian artists, combining mentorship, guest speakers, and hands-on project development. Participants meet twice weekly and receive guidance on how to use their art as a tool for storytelling, identity exploration, and community building.

The program is organized by the SEAD Project, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit that serves as a creative and cultural hub for Southeast Asian-Americans. Beyond SEA Change Lab, SEAD offers initiatives focused on language, storytelling, and cultural exchange, with a mission of strengthening community ties and elevating Southeast Asian voices.

Through programs like SEA Change Lab, young artists such as Vuong are not only gaining mentorship and visibility but also reclaiming and reimagining cultural narratives for future generations.

MinneapoliMedia