Biography
Tuong-Phi Le grew up in Alief, Texas, a vibrant immigrant community on the southwest side of Houston. She began her creative career as a writer, producing both journalistic stories for the Kerronicle, an award-winning student publication, and short fiction that appeared in literary magazines such as TeenInk, Skipping Stones, and Cicada. Her work drew not only on her experiences as a daughter of Vietnamese refugees, but also her volunteer work as an ESL and Vietnamese teacher trying to bridge the language barrier between diasporic generations—perspectives which continue to inform her art today.
After graduating with two Bachelor of Arts degrees (economics, environmental sustainability) and a new language (Arabic) from the University of Oklahoma, Le briefly worked as a GIS cartographer in Tulsa, Oklahoma before moving home to Houston in 2019 to become a data integrator and eventually a software engineer. In 2022, she transitioned from a mainly digital art practice to working with more traditional media, including acrylic and oil painting, Chinese ink, and embossed metal. In 2023, she became a member of the Visual Arts Alliance (VAA) and began exhibiting in curated shows at Hardy and Nance Studios in Houston, Texas. Recently, Le's work has been juried into exhibitions mounted by the Art League of Baytown (Upcycle Challenge, Aug.-Sep. 2023) and the Greater Denton Arts Council (63 & 93: Generations in Conversation, Oct.-Dec. 2023), and she was recognized by the 2023 Viet Cultural Fest art competition, where she received First Place in the adult (19+ years old) age bracket for her painting Chân Dung Người Phụ Nữ Việt Nam II [Profile of a Young Vietnamese Woman II].
Artist Statement
I make art to create opportunities for empathy. Through immersive figurative artwork backed by both extensive research and my own lived experience as a queer woman of color, I tell stories from the perspectives of the often-overlooked, be they people (women, immigrants, the queer community, etc.) mainly acknowledged in history for their struggles, or ordinary objects whose ubiquity or unsightliness make them mundane. By bringing these taken-for-granted realities to the fore and juxtaposing them against conventional cultural expectations—about body image, historicity, and femininity in art, among other things—I invite my audience to question those expectations and to celebrate the worth inherent in all things and people.
Artist CV
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July 8 - 27, 2024
Visual Arts Alliance (VAA) 40th Juried Membership Exhibition
Redbud Arts Center, Houston, TX
Juried by Tanja PetersonJanuary 14 - March 24, 2024
Who are the Least of These?
Webster Presbyterian Sanctuary for the Arts, Webster, TXDecember 1, 2023
2nd Annual ROAR: The Art of Cats [Overall Honorable Mention]
Wild Heart Gallery, Coachella Valley, CA
Juried by Sarah Soward, Sharon Eisley, and Ashli KingfisherOctober 6 - December 16, 2023
63 & 93: Generations in Conversation
Meadows Gallery (Greater Denton Arts Council), Denton, TX
Juried by Georgina Ngozi, Colby Parsons, Jenny Bates, and Caitlin SpencerAugust 25 - September 21, 2023
The Upcycle Art Challenge
Art League of Baytown, Baytown, TX
Juried by Ron GordonSeptember 16, 2023
Viet Cultural Fest 2023 Art Competition [1st Place (19+ Age Bracket)]
Vietnamese Cultural & Science Association (VCSA), Houston, TX -
September 19, 2024 - October 29, 2024
ARBOREA — Cloister Gallery (Christ Church Cathedral), Houston, TXAugust 3, 2024 - September 5, 2024
Drawn From Life — Archway Gallery, Houston, TXJanuary 20, 2024
10” x 10” Art Show 2024 — Hardy & Nance Studios, Houston, TXDecember 6, 2023 - January 6, 2024
Deck the Walls — Ardest Gallery, The Woodlands, TXJuly 10-31, 2023
Peace Love Art (3rd Annual Charity Showcase & Sale) — Arts + CausesJune 9, 2023
Wish Upon a Star — Insomnia Gallery, Houston, TXMay 20, 2023
Plantasia — Hardy & Nance Studios, Houston, TX -
April 2024
Catching Chen Qing Ling: The Untamed and Adaptation, Production, and Reception in Transcultural Contexts, ed. Yue (Cathy) Wang & Maria Albierto, published by Peter Lang
Contributed book chapter: ‘Across the Distance, Resonating’: Charting the Rise of Mo Dao Zu Shi and Chen Qing Ling Fanfiction in Non-Sinophone SpheresSummer 2014
Davidson Fellow — Davidson Institute
Literature portfolio: Shadow and Song: Revitalizing the Expatriate Vietnamese Identity Through Mythological MediaSpring 2014
National Silver Medalist (Senior Portfolio) — Scholastic Art & Writing Awards