Carry What you Need

Carry what You Need incorporates historical references of the Vietnamese boat refugee crisis with biographical elements from my father’s own experiences. Suitcases are very intimate items- not only do they contain personal belongings, but stories as well. Even though these refugees could only carry what they needed (the bare essentials), when they escaped Vietnam, certain emotions and memories could never fully be left behind.The violence of the Vietnamese war left refugees, including my father, with a lot of trauma and “emotional baggage” in which they were forced to carry. 

My piece uses a vintage suitcase as a symbol of transience and as a vessel that portrays some of these memories. The focal point is a hand-constructed wooden fishing boat. These types of rickety, old boats were commonly used by Vietnamese refugees when they embarked into new countries. The bottom of the suitcase contains my father’s own immigration papers, his passport, a photograph of when he first settled in Canada, and clothes from that era-which he still wears to this day.