• 50 Years of HOPE and HAHAs Vagabond presents “50 Years of HOPE and HA-HAs,” the DMV’s first Vietnamese American art exhibition, celebrating the expansiveness of the diaspora. 2025 marks the 50-year anniversary of the end of the war in Vietnam. The mainstream perception of Viets has remained unchanged for decades, rooted in the suffering of war, yet nothing about our community is static.
  
  In the 1967 speech “Beyond Vietnam,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addressed the importance of understanding the Viet experience in saying, “we may learn and grow and profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition.”
  
  The exhibition features visual art, poetry, video art, zines and music by over 20 Viet artists including four zine collectives, offering counter narratives from the 1.5 and 2nd generation while uplifting the multi-cultural intersectionality of the diaspora. The theme of resilience is interwoven through joy, memorial, heritage, catharsis, solidarity, representation and community.

The exhibition title comes from Ocean Vuong’s poem, “The Last Dinosaur,” which asks how we can live better despite a destroyed past: 

Oh wind-broke wanderer, 
widow of hope & ha-has…
I was made to die
but I’m here to stay.
—Ocean Vuong

• Hey, We Need To Talk, 2024 In this deeply divided era, one of the hardest things you can do is talk to someone who thinks differently from you. But that’s exactly what we need to do if we want to solve the social and political problems our country faces and if we want to create a society in which everyone flourishes. Strengthening our social bonds happens when we begin to care about each other again. That begins with a conversation. Philippa transformed the Crumpacker Gallery at the University of Michigan Museum of Art into a social sculpture, an artwork that becomes complete when human connections happen, where you can have honest, caring, common sense conversations. This artwork was inspired by the work of U-M Professor Jenna Bednar, who proposes four pillars of flourishing: community, sustainability, dignity, and beauty.

• Vagabond Almost 50 years post-war, the Vietnamese-American narrative is still skewed. 13 Vietnamese creatives have decided to change this vision. Vagabond is a Zine featuring interviews and other work with those artists, poets, photographers, designers, and musicians in the DMV area. Co-created by Philippa Pham Hughes and Anthony Trung Quang Le, Vagabond challenges mainstream American beliefs on what it means to be Vietnamese-American through the counter-narratives of its writers. In addition to their interview contributions, each artist was commissioned to write a letter to their younger self as an act of self-care. Vagabond is a powerful reminder of how far the Vietnamese American community has come while serving as a vessel of education to the public. The Zine celebrates rich Vietnamese American excellence through art and healing, a radical act of self-love for both the artists and the community.

• We Should Talk is a series of multi-media art installations and programs in which multi-disciplinary Asian American women artists create space to explore the nuances and complexities of what it means to be an Asian American woman. We Should Talk is led by curator and artist Philippa Pham Hughes and artists Xena Ni and Adele 이슬 Kenworthy. We apply an aesthetic of care and delight to creating relational spaces in which we share deeply and honestly, learn from one another, explore, and grow together.

• Hey, We Need To Talk, 2022 In partnership with the Ann Arbor City Clerk’s Office, the Creative Campus Voting Project is collaborating with UMMA to turn your art museum into an election hub — register to vote, get your ballot, access voting resources, and celebrate participation. In addition, visiting artist Philippa Hughes will host a dynamic and deeply engaging series of experimental social events across UMMA’s galleries, creating space for authentic and honest conversations between politically diverse people.

• The Greatest Poem Walt Whitman believed that the power of poetry and democracy are derived from their capacity to make a unified whole from diverse and sometimes contradictory parts. He said, “The United States are the greatest poem.” As a Hybrid American who contains multitudes, I see myself reflected in Whitman’s words and those words inspired me to write “The Greatest Poem,” a declaration of what it means to me to be American, to be human, to be a poem. This film was commissioned by Shanara Gabrielle and Arena Stage and directed by Elyse Kelly. My words were brought to life by 20 amazing artists.

• Treehouse invites the viewer into a space of beauty that encourages us to wonder about the world and each other. Imagine a world in which we all can flourish, and are connected to nature and one another. This multisensory, collaborative installation is a portal for reflection, reconnection, remembrance and dialogue.

• Blueberries and Cherries Inviting politically diverse guests to break bread and talk to each other face-to-face over a home cooked meal. the goal: to understand the things that influence our votes and to find ways to bridge the vast ideological gap that plagues our country. We engage in civil discourse that is unfiltered by the lens of political punditry and by the anonymity and bias of social media.

• Looking For America How do different communities—in the Midwest, at the border, in cities and in rural areas—answer that question? Across the United States, we’re inviting local artists and community members of all backgrounds and political stripes to come together to share their stories and perspectives.

• Hello, Neighbor! Video portraits capturing the spirit of the Southwest neighborhood through storytelling and memory sharing.

• A (GOOD) AMERICAN Art exhibit in which seven artists examined the immigrant experience in America and examined what it means to be a good American. The artists used the interior and exterior spaces of the Heurich House Museum, the historic home of 19th century German immigrant Christian Heurich, as backdrop and inspiration.

• The Van Ness Social Club A new-fashioned town square and social gathering where millennial and elderly neighbors can get to know each other in dance and unexpected social interaction.

• IF YOU LIVED HERE An interactive, site-specific installation that explores the meaning of home through personal reflection and within historical and archaeological context.

• Us + Them = U.S. Finding Common Ground In a Divided Nation A co-curated visual response to the division our country faces, in which artists and activists examine and investigate our nation’s current political and cultural rift and explore how we can find a collective understanding through contemporary art-making methods

• SEE/CHANGE Temporary creative pacemaking video art and community engagement project that put a human face on how population change and revitalization are affecting the Park View and Pleasant Plains neighborhoods of lower Georgia Avenue.

• SuperNova International performance art festival over three days throughout the streets and underused spaces of Rosslyn, Virginia.

• LUMEN8Anacostia Temporary arts and culture festival in underutilized spaces.

• Cherry Blast I, II, III, IV, and V Annual alternative, multi-media art and music events in raw spaces throughout DC. An official event of the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

• White Party Art, dance, games, and technology in an interactive experience at The Phillips Collection.

• North Capitol Main Street Art Walk Summer-long showcase of sculptures placed in front yards of residences along a main street in the Bloomingdale neighborhood.

• ZestFest Pop-up performing arts sidewalk festival over 10 days.