Catzie Vilayphonh

Catzie Vilayphonh has been invited to curate a collaborative live arts performance for Sabaideefest, a Southeast Asian Music and Cultural Festival taking place in California from June 15-16, 2024. Catzie, alongside two fellow Lao American women artists based in Philadelphia – photographer Jada O'Donnell and visual artist Christina Luangrath – will create a live painting through interviews conducted with attendees at Sabaideefest. As part of this collaborative project, Christina will depict portraits of festival attendees, who Catzie will be interviewing about their experiences at Sabaideefest and how it intersects with their personal journey as Lao American refugees, all documented by Jada through her lens. 

The WOO Grant will help cover airfare from Philadelphia to California for the three artists, as well as lodging expenses and some art supplies for the opportunity.

Catzie Vilayphonh will use Window of Opportunity funds for a travel and research trip that begins with attending the Laotian American National Alliance Gala in Los Angeles, CA. While there, she will celebrate the advocacy, advancement, and cultural preservation of the Laos community cultural preservation – as well as build community and opportunities to collaborate and host future projects.
 
After the conference, Catzie will travel to San Francisco to interview Laotian author and elder, Bounheng Inversin, whom Catzie fondly calls a “living legend”, about her life and the possibility of collaborating on a book together, exploring the many titles a person has in the Lao language based on gender, age, and relation to family. In addition, Catzie will head-up to Seattle to meet with the Kinnaly, a dance troupe of five Lao women, about the possibility of collaboration for the 2020 Lao American Writers Summit, which will take place in Philadelphia.

Catzie’s Laos In The House project will celebrate and honor the work and legacy of renowned Lao dancer, teacher, and artist Pom Khampradith, who passed away from breast cancer in April 2014. By presenting Pom’s story and work through her first five students and son Ravi, Catzie’s project will showcase the collaborative efforts of remembrance as well as preserve cultural and historical traditions for current and future generations. The goal of the project is to resist the rejection of cultural traditions for many Lao Americans who are often marginalized by a culture that does not prioritize art or embrace social commentary.

Catzie will create “Laos in the House,” an innovative writing and performance workshop, with fellow Laos artists Saymoukda Vongsay and Bryan Thao Worra. “Laos” will incorporate different storytelling styles highlighting the artists’ shared experiences dealing with their ethnic identity and surviving as children of war/refugees. The show will promote and provide an accessible art form via live storytelling among Lao American refugees in Philadelphia. Catzie’s ultimate goal is to extend this important and necessary work nationally by performing at the 1st Lao Writer’s Summit in Minneapolis, Minnesota during August 13-15, 2010.

Catzie is a Lao American writer, spoken word poet, and performance artist. She uses her work to inspire other Asian Americans, particularly Lao Americans, to embrace the arts and find new ways of preserving and documenting cultural heritage. As a member of a community marked by trauma and war, Catzie is especially interested in examining how one begins a process of remembering what another tries to forget and how first- and second-generations can connect with a country to which they can no longer return. Catzie’s poetry confronts racial stereotypes, analyzes the notions of racist love versus racist hate, and exposes the racial sexualization related to the trafficking of women and children from Asia. Her art also addresses issues such as generational divides within refugee-immigrant communities, the complications of language barriers, and being a member of an ‘unpopular’ ethnicity. As a member of the decade-old spoken word duo Yellow Rage, with partner Michelle Myers, Catzie has performed on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, at the Asian Pacific Islander American (APIA) Spoken Word Summit, and alongside artists such as Ursula Rucker, Pharoahe Monch, Bao Phi, I Was Born With Two Tongues, amongst others. Yellow Rage received the Artist & Performance In Action Fellowship from Asian Arts Initiative, which helped fund their second CD Handle With Care, Volume 2. In August 2010, Catzie led the organization of the 1st Lao American Writers Summit in Minneapolis, which brought together established and emerging Lao American poets, authors, and playwrights. Locally, she facilitates writing and performing workshops for youth and regularly hosts and guest produces the monthly open mic series Family Style at Asian Arts Initiative. Catzie believes that by sharing what has been lost or learned in the process of emigration and assimilation that one can retell their own folktales, rewriting history along the way. She sees her art as contributing to this process, ultimately preserving and extending the legacy of Lao Americans.

Performance at the Globalization Research Center's conference on Human Traficking in Women and Girls. Support towards travel and accommodation.