I’m ecstatic to partner with Dr. Martens to paint this exclusive pair of Docs in celebration of Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (APAHM)! 

The design depicts a dragon riding rolling waves and a phoenix rising over a sea of clouds, paying homage to the creation myth of Vietnamese people from Lạc Long Quân and Âu Cơ. Vietnamese as a people have survived generations of trauma, of bloodshed. We are descendants of dragons and fairies. We are born from earth and water. Earth may travel in the winds to land on new ground. Water may flow with its current to the waves of a new sea. Whether we’re still in Vietnam or oceans away, our flesh and blood are the soil and water from which our lineages take root. 

APAHM hasn’t always been something that I celebrate every year. I often question how we can possibly compress millennia of history and diasporas in a month. How can we possibly begin to grasp the trauma that only our parents but also our ancestors of generations past endured? 

APAHM, to me, is a month of affirmation for all Asian and Pacific Islander folks. It is a month in which we commit ourselves to honoring all of what makes us who we are and to remembering what it takes for us to embrace our identity. AAPHM is also a time in which we allow ourselves to exist so loudly and so vibrantly that we can neither be quieted nor invisibilized again.

Thank you Dr. Martens for giving me this opportunity to the opportunity to create this meaningful design and to honor my Vietnamese heritage with specificity and intentionality during this month.