All of my work begins with tension. With an uneasy feeling in my stomach, I once asked my parents “What does it mean to be an American?” My parents’ answer was simple: “We live here, we raise our kids here, we are American,” they said, as if baffled that I even had to ask.

Originally working as a studio artist addressing issues such as class, identity, and race, I recently earned my Master’s Degree in the History of Art and Archaeology at NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts. I’ve found that as I deconstruct art history, I’m finding tools to untangle my own history as a second-generation HMong-Cambodian-American—and vice versa. My scholarship engages with the complex history of Asian America, with a focus on modern works during the time of and after the American Vietnam War. It is through revisiting traditional practices and exploring new ways of thinking that I am able to reconcile Southeast Asia’s tumultuous past and envision a hopeful diasporic future.

My work is deeply indebted to those who came before me—soldiers, laborers, artists, scholars, and survivors whose American Dream lays the foundation of my scholarship. Empowered by feminist, diasporic, queer, and anti-colonial methods, I am committed to telling their stories and imagining their futures.

Based in New York by way of California.

she/her/hers

kmnok [at] nyu [dot] edu

My name is pronounced: Kay-lee Moe(like Joe)-ah No(like No)k