All of us carry a trace of our origin in our expression. I was born in Viet Nam, where I lived all of my youth. Ten years of academic training in drawing and a belief in Buddhism established my foundation. Since my arrival in the US, a land of discovery, my existence has grown more complete and complex. I have found a special substance that gives me the sense of communing both with my eastern past and with my adopted western culture: it is urushi lacquer, an ancient organic medium that flows from the sap of trees growing only in East Asia. It has helped me fulfill two important goals. One is to keep defining and refining my identity through the development of my visual language, and the other is to contribute to the renewal of the urushi art form in our present time.