lê thi diem thúy Commission

Civis has commissioned a new multimedia performance work by lê thi diem thúy. The triptych sets out to explore three different time frames in U.S. history: the Reconstruction era, drawing from the congressional debates over the Civil Rights Act of 1875; the modern Civil Rights era, homing in on 1968, a year marked by mobilizations and conflagrations at home and abroad; and our still unfolding present. These three eras raise urgent questions regarding war and peace, sovereignty, freedom, the social fabric, and belonging – crystallizing the meaning, practice, and viability of our constitutional democracy in ways that are especially alive and pressing. The work is titled ‘The persons of a distant people’ recasting a fragment from a deleted passage in Thomas Jefferson’s first draft of the Declaration of Independence.

lê thi diem thúy – is a poet, novelist and solo performance artist. She is the author of the critically acclaimed novel The Gangster We Are All Looking For (2003). lê’s work brings into focus the embodied experiences of individuals often seen, in her words, as “floating casualties of history” –opening a channel for their voices to trouble and upend received narratives regarding national memory, war, and aftermath. 

lê is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation (2004), the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (2002-2003), and was named a Ford Fellow in Literature by United States Artists (2008). Her solo performance works, Red Fiery Summer, the bodies between us, and Carte Postale have been performed throughout the United States at venues including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Vineyard Theater, and the New WORLD Theater at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Abroad, lê’s work was featured in the International Women Playwrights Festival in Galway, Ireland. She is a graduate of Hampshire College.