Thao Huynh French Brings Future Flowers

Thao Huynh French Brings Future Flowers and Community Murals to Mesa

 

Multi-disciplinary artist and muralist Thao Huynh French was recently commissioned to create two murals for San Diego Mesa College’s KUP Village in the Student Services building. Thao and her husband founded Mindful Murals and they have painted over 400 murals. Born in Vietnam and raised in California, Thao’s artistic practice is heavily influenced by her Asian American heritage, her experience as a refugee, and an appreciation for nature, particularly flowers, which she considers symbols of resilience and transformation.

 

Future Flowers: Memory, Meaning, Mischief is Thao’s debut solo exhibition and it features paintings, interactive installations and archival materials on the theme of refugee history and experiences while providing a place for sharing and connection. The exhibit also delves into Asian American life, cultural memory and nostalgia, which Thao interprets through the use of traditional Vietnamese dresses, Lunar New Year customs and decorations, immigrant food, lively pop culture, and even conflict. We invite you to join us for the reception on Wednesday, September 2, 4 - 7 pm. Meet the artist, enjoy refreshments and a performance by Southern Sea. As part of the programming there will also be an artist led gallery tour and talk on Wednesday, September 9 at 6 pm.

 

During the summer of 2026, Thao worked with a group of San Diego Mesa College students and staff to conceptualize a pair of murals for the center that supports the Kapwa, Umoja and Puente counseling programs. Ideas emerged from a conversation on the role of art as social justice. The final mural design was grounded and inspired by collages created by students and staff and published in a zine which is on display as reference material.Thao’s work has a unique approach using layered and stenciled spraypaint. The completed pieces will be on view in the gallery and when the exhibition concludes they will be placed in their intended location. This is an opportunity for the campus community and the general public to understand the murals within the larger context of Thao’s artwork and explorations.

 

A section of the exhibit is devoted to canvases where details of flowers explode into brilliant crimson, orange and blue textured petals. Flowers have a special meaning for Thao because they often appear in family photographs as decorations for a joyful celebration such as Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, or offering comfort in times of grief; they are seen as universal symbols of love and connection. Blossoms become the protagonists in paintings where they are appreciated close up, fluid shapes in fiery hues. Thao mentions how “they mirror the way in which we persist and bloom through adversity. How conditions meant to break us instead become the very source from which we grow.”  As an adult, Thao has become more deeply attuned with Nature and has developed an interest in ethnobotany, closely observing the relationship between culture, people and plants. Environmental and socioeconomic disparities are growing and art can be used as a force for good to spread awareness or act as a form of storytelling.

 

Another section of the gallery is a reflection on the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon; it includes an installation of photographs and archival documents that Thao rescued from a refugee processing center in Bajaan, Philippines. This is the same refugee camp where Thao and her family lived before migrating to the US. Visitors are invited to sift through the materials as the artist did during her expedition to the camp in January 2025. On the walls, a memory mapping of snapshots helps piece together a timeline of her family as refugees, from the moment they entered the camp to their present lives. This storyline includes the discovery of her mother's Amerasian origins and the ongoing search for her biological father. Refugees will be able to interact with the materials and submit their own stories and documentation in person with the use of a memory box or on an online portal. This project is supported and endorsed by the Critical Refugee Studies Collective.The findings and data will be included in the website www.sandiegorefugees.com and French encourages intergenerational contribution to the archive as it evolves.

 

Future Flowers is both about revisiting the past and making the future. Through the ubiquitous backdrop of a child’s memories and the preservation of historical documents, it tracks the transition from Vietnam to a new American life. The artwork ponders on this important legacy, especially at a time when immigration policies affect the lives of immigrants and refugees who have become political scapegoats. The show is ultimately about the quest for meaning, finding unexpected family along the way, decolonization and generational healing for the artist’s family.

 

Thao Huynh French is a multidisciplinary artist, muralist, and photographer. Born in Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam and now based in San Diego, California, she co-founded Mindful Murals™, a creative social enterprise dedicated to bringing communities together through the power of art. Since 2018, she has led murals in schools and public spaces across the United States and internationally, including New York, Mexico, Vietnam, and the Philippines with each project rooted in story-telling and civic engagement. She has worked with San Diego Unified School District, Disney, Rise SD, Viet Voices, San Diego Museum of Art, Prebys Foundation, UCSD, Caltrans, and more.

 

By Alessandra Moctezuma

Tags: KUP, Student Services, San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery, Art, Mural