The concept of “home” is increasingly complex for diasporic communities in the Twin Cities. This weekend, artists explore it in motion: a performing arts collective reimagines Japanese dance at the Walker, Black women entrepreneurs open new studios in Rondo, and photographer Pao Houa Her traces Hmong American life across continents. 

And if you’re looking for a mid-week outing, four emerging artists are constructing their own interpretations of “home” for the University of Minnesota’s annual master of fine arts exhibit, opening Tuesday. 

An Afrofuturist vision told through dance

An all-femme cast of Black dancers will channel the fierce spirit of sumo wrestlers and the haunting movements of butoh — a Japanese “dance of darkness” — at the Walker this weekend. If you’re into techno music and Afrofuturism, don’t miss “Marks of RED,” an exploration of Blackness by New York-based performing arts collective Tribe, led by choreographer Shamel Pitts. 

Black-owned art shops debut in Rondo

After three decades of preserving affordable housing for Rondo residents, the Rondo Community Land Trust is launching the Rondo Exchange, a commercial hub for Black-owned businesses. Saturday’s grand opening features the debut of five creative studios: Kp Inspires, BLovely Production and LeMae Photography, Mind the Crown, and BriiNoir — alongside four new murals and live music by DJ Glorius Martin. 

Landscapes of the Hmong American diaspora

If you haven’t experienced the work of Pao Houa Her yet, her solo exhibit “Other Pictures of paradise” is the latest entrypoint into her world. 

Her journey began in the northern jungles of Laos, her family’s escape across the Mekong River when she was an infant and their eventual arrival in the U.S. in the 1980s. Today, she uses her lens to explore the Hmong American experience across Laos, Minnesota and California. 

The exhibit at Bockley Gallery bridges the gap between her past work and her new photobook, “The Imaginative Landscape.” Expect vibrant, large-scale nature landscapes and intimate black-and-white portraiture. 

Meet Her at the closing reception from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on April 2. 

Coming Tuesday: Vietnamese folklore meets Minnesota life

When artist Mai Tran arrived in Minnesota as an international student in 2015, she spent the first year learning English and navigating the Midwestern winter. Back in South Vietnam, snowy landscapes were nonexistent. 

“I didn’t even know much about my pre-modernized Vietnamese culture,” Tran said. “As I made art, I started to learn.” 

Now, thousands of miles away from the tropical heat, Tran digs into the folklore and symbolism of her heritage. Her large-scale woodcuts are playgrounds of cultural blending, where a Vietnamese Ly Dragon swarms over Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes, or a watermelon (a Tet Lunar New Year symbol of prosperity) sits framed by slices of pepperoni pizza. 

The lotus (Vietnam’s national flower) blooms alongside American cheeseburgers in her “Carnolotus” series, a pairing that carries familial roots. 

“My mom is from Lotus city [Cao Lanh City], so I grew up visiting the lotus fields,” she said. “I thought it was cheesy at first but then when I started making work with the lotus, it became a way to reclaim my identity and culture.”

In the University of Minnesota’s latest master of fine arts exhibit, “else|where|else,” Tran reimagines Vietnamese culture through the lens of her American life. Eight works showcase the past five years of her artistic journey, tracing her evolution from simple black-and-white woodcuts to intricate, technicolor pieces. As a graduate teaching assistant in printmaking, she hopes visitors leave with a deeper appreciation for the art form.

Three other emerging artists join Tran in the gallery.

“I think we had a really great cohort because our practice is so different from each other but our works all talk about our connection to place,” Tran said. 

Interdisciplinary artist Aja Bond creates immersive communal environments, where discarded objects and organic waste become raw materials for new forms of life; Kayla J. Fryer uses textiles, light and sound to explore her ties to Christianity and the American South; and J Youngwood displays abstract paintings that move through the Midwestern experience. 

Correction: Mai Tran’s teaching role at the University of Minnesota has been updated in this story.

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