Who Do I Make Art For?

I’m Khanh, pronounced like “con.” She/they/he/daddy whatever pronouns.

I’m the oldest child of Vietnamese immigrants who came in the 90s during the third wave of migration.

I grew up low income - mobile home, parents making minimum wage, poor neighborhood.

My parents emphasized the importance of education since we were little, and honestly, I was pretty decent at it.

All A’s from elementary to high school. Accepted to MIT. Graduated with a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering. Landed a job at Meta working on AR/VR hardware a couple years after graduating.

Cut to 2023

I’m in my late 20s, 6-figure job, prestigious college, prestigious company, prestigious career.

By most definitions, I was pretty successful.

But I also woke up every morning with a pit in my stomach. Work would feel emotionally painful. I’d go home and lay on the couch for hours before rolling off to bed.

Something felt off. Something always felt off.

I had watched all the people at school with me build rollercoasters and machines and race cars. Coworkers talked about their obsessions with engines and new

home maintenance projects and various other engineering knick-knacks.

I never thought I could be a good enough engineer. I didn’t do any of that stuff outside of work.

But the key part is: I never WANTED to

I NEVER wanted to do engineering in my free time. I wanted to dance and paint and make videos and sculpt and connect with people. I wanted to be creative and play with color and run around being goofy. 

I had spent all this time doing things I thought I “should do,” I ended up chasing a career that didn’t even really suit me.