Sống

Ocean Vuong
May 29 – June 28, 2026

This photography exhibition by acclaimed author Ocean Vuong, a defining voice of his generation, translates his intimate storytelling from the written word into powerful visual imagery.

In Vietnamese, Sống translates to “to live”—a vital affirmation of survival in the wake of conflict. Through these photographs, Vuong deconstructs traditional depictions of the working class, offering instead an intimate lens that honors the labor, autonomy, and the humanity of those often rendered invisible. The images function as a visual companion to his literary explorations of memory and grief, particularly in the years following his mother’s death. The collection redefines resilience as a habit of everyday existence rather than a static milestone.

Shaped by the transgenerational violence of the American War in Vietnam, Vuong’s long-standing photographic practice serves as a living archive. The work reveals that the diasporic condition is not a static state of displacement, but a dynamic, creative process of world-building. Sống is an invitation to move beyond mere witnessing and into a shared condition of feeling, existing, and living.

The preview of Sống on May 16–18 coincides with Vuong’s sold-out appearance at the Santa Fe International Literary Festival, and continues through June 28, 2026. This show is made possible with the support of CPW.

WHEN • May 29 – June 28, 2026

OPENING RECEPTION • Friday, May 29, 5:00 - 7:00 PM (MT)

GALLERY HOURS • Tuesday – Friday, 12:00 – 5:00 PM (MT) (special hours on Monday, May 18).

WHERE • CENTER, 1570 Pacheco St, B-1, Santa Fe, NM 87505

HOW • Free & Public

ACCOMMODATIONS • Schedule your class visit or sensory-friendly visit to the new CENTER space by emailing programs@centersantafe.org.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Writer, professor, and photographer Ocean Vuong is the author of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, winner of the American Book Award, The Mark Twain Award, and The New England Book Award. The novel debuted for six weeks on The New York Times bestseller list and has since sold more than a million copies in 41 languages. A nominee for the National Book Award and a recipient of a MacArthur "Genius" Grant, he is also the author of the poetry collections, Time is a Mother, a finalist for the Griffin prize, and Night Sky with Exit Wounds, a New York Times Top 10 Book, winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Whiting Award, the Thom Gunn Award.

Selected by Time magazine as one of its 100 Rising Cultural Influencers, Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, Paris Review, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets.

Born in Saigon, Vietnam and raised in Hartford, Connecticut in a working class family of nail salon and factory laborers, he was educated at nearby Manchester Community College before transferring to Pace University to study International Marketing. Without completing his first term, he dropped out and enrolled at Brooklyn College, where he graduated with a BA in Nineteenth Century American Literature. He subsequently received his MFA in Poetry from NYU.

He currently splits his time between Western Massachusetts and New York City, where he serves as a Professor in Modern Poetry and Poetics in the MFA Program at NYU. • oceanvuong.com