PHO X FAUX

2024 BFA Thesis
Thesis Paper






Artist Statement

This project reflects my process of grappling with my complex identity as a Vietnamese transracial adoptee. Grounding my research in the history of Pho, a traditional Vietnamese noodle dish whose origins are inextricably linked to Western colonial influence in South Asia, I trace and find parallels between the dish’s evolution in the West, my own story, and the story of the Vietnamese people.


As a graphic designer, I find myself perpetually working at the intersection of visual and cultural identity. I look Asian but I was raised in a white family in Maine. As a result, I often don’t know where I fit in; I feel like I’m faking who I am and there is no “real me”. This was as true when I visited Vietnam as it is in the US. Similarly, there is no definitive Pho. The dish’s ingredients and flavors change depending on its context. 


Through posters, data visualization, video, projection mapping, and augmented reality, this project uses a variety of media to create an immersive environment that navigates the complexities of race, ethnicity, food, and belonging. I aim to communicate my experience as an Asian American designer who is discovering how to design for myself while exploring this complex and personal topic. 

8x8 Pho Recipe Book I wanted to create a recipe book to highlight my own recipe and within the recpie was the origin story of myself and my connection with pho.  The recipe becomes a chapter in a larger story, encapsulating memories of my identity and resilience. 

By documenting these recipes, the book provides a tangible connection to Vietnam for those generations removed from the country, while also celebrating my hybrid identities that evolved in diasporic contexts. Thus, it acts as a culinary bridge between myself as past and present, homeland and adopted land, crafting a collective identity that resonates deeply within the Vietnamese and my own diaspora.

Inside the book consisted of vellum to add a transparent aspect to the book. This was sort of a bridge to tell a different story without it being the highlight of the book. One can view it as a recipe book while at the same time take away a deeper meaning to the book. Recipe books have a way of preserving history, telling a story, sharing culture and bringing people together through food. This was a entry for people into myself. While relating thmeselves to food




24x34 Posters Cans
Inspired by Andy Warhol’s Soup Cans  I wanted to  
express the idea of what it means to be “Americanized”Pho in many ways has become Americanzied through its propagation  around the United States with its popularity. And I’m critiquing what that looks like. As for myself, I too have become Americanized through  adoption and the consumption of American culture.

Fork & Chopsticks:
Symbolizing choosing my own identity
between being Vietnamese and 
American side. 

Appropriation
Has pho become appropriated in American culture? One could say it has through various people taking pho and calling it “authentic”. The question I raise is whether food appropriation is even a thing? 

Am I what I eat?
Taking 7,000 google food photos scraped from google reviews of pho restrauaunts throughout the United States and putting them into a mosiac. Embedding myself 
into soup.


24x55 Data Visualization Telling the story of Pho doesn’t exist without the context of how the Vietnamese came to the United States. Under the United Nations Higher Commsioner for Refugees which tracks Immigrants - Over 1 million Vietnamese fled Vietnam to come to the United States. 

Due to war and search for a better life, Vietnamese came in almost anything that could float. Reports of 400,000 - 600,000 people died trying to cross the oceans to reach saftey. 

Using Cavalry 2d to create data viz maps. I was able to visualize the story of the Vietnamese people migrating from their homeland in relation to how Pho became so popular. Which allowed for a deeper story between Pho, myself, and the Vietnamese people.

Google Trends allowed me to search interests based on google searches for Pho and other soups. This alllowed me to take the data from the line chart and re-map those data points into a more refined designed look and feel. Using color and length to drive the data in a circular composition.  

Data was taken from United Nations Refugee Website
https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/.


Google Trends

Vietnamese Around the world
Visualizing 7,000 Pho Restraunts
Comparing Pho to others
Vietnamese to the U.S

24x24 Projection Mapping Projection mapping is a captivating art form that transforms ordinary surfaces into dynamic displays, creating visually stunning experiences. What makes it so cool is its ability to merge the physical and digital worlds, allowing for endless creative possibilities. I wanted to  transform a a table and bowl into a canvas for to tell a story of the history of Pho as well as my identity as soup. 

Created using Maya and Adobe After Effects to composite the 3d scene, I was able to model 3d elements in Maya and render the effects in After Effects and projecting the scene through a projector mounted in a top down configuration.



3x5Cans 



3x5Video PieceThe video piece of my thesis was to present the spoken words from insdie my recipe book while I made a bowl of pho with the recipe. This aduio and spoken element allowed for a connection with my voice and to visualize a simple yet complicated marrying of two things together. 

Shooting took time over a series of two days, compositing shots and getting the right angles inside my tiny kitchen. 


3x5Neon Sign 
Neon sign made by cutting strips of acryllic rubber 
and wiring with backboard of plastic.


Thesis Show Exhibtion



©Zachary LennettPho X Faux