Kat Eng is a mixed Khmer artist and organizer whose work explores migration, land, and labor, from an abolitionist Southeast Asian lens. Learn more at kateng.co.
What have you been up to since you created art for SEARAC back in 2021?
This year, I am working on a version of my rice bag shirt that will have ‘Free Palestine’ translated into Southeast Asian languages. This project has sparked so many beautiful conversations with moms and dads and in-laws and aunties collaboratively finding the words for what it means to be free. A lot of the original translations used language that asked for releasing or letting go. With this round, we are centering freedom as a state of being. The Khmer, Thai, and Lao words for ‘freedom’ (សេរីភាព, เสรีภาพ, ເສລີພາບ) actually all share the same Sanskrit root word ‘svabhava,’ which means ‘self nature’ or ‘original state’.
100% of the proceeds from the shirt sales will be donated to families in Gaza, in addition to the eight Minnesotan deportees that we’ve continued to support in Cambodia. They sell out pretty quickly so you might want keep a pulse on my Instagram or sign up for an email reminder for when the sale goes live.
What does the 50th anniversary of Southeast Asian American refugee resettlement mean to you?
As we witness the horrors that continue to unfold in Palestine, I think this anniversary is an important time for refugee communities to see the parallels in our experiences. When I see images of displaced children in Gaza being burned alive by Israeli forces, I think of napalm girl and the many, many thousands of people who were deemed acceptable collateral damage of an imperial proxy war.
It took a mass popular movement to throw a wrench into the machines of that war. Black power groups, Indigenous and Chicano movements, labor organizers, and so many more communities came together to support our liberation. Now it’s our turn to stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine, and do everything in our power to build a world without war.
What do you hope for Southeast Asian American communities for the next 50 years?
Who knows what the next 50 years hold, but I think our communities collectively have a lot of knowledge that can root us through the storms that may come.
Statement about the piece: When the glaciers moved across the American Midwest during the last ice age—flattening the earth along the way—they missed the Driftless Area of Southeastern Minnesota. The name suggests a place without aim or direction. But because it escaped the crush of glaciation, this unique landscape is more biodiverse than anywhere else in the region. In midsummer, the backwaters of the Mississippi fill with migratory birds and native lotus blooms, and with a squint of the eye, these river bluffs could be mistaken for somewhere along the Mekong.
Minnesota became a refuge for many Southeast Asians who were scattered by war. This piece imagines an immigrant family finding an oasis within an unfamiliar city. A mother and child are riding on the back of a mythically large blue water buffalo, entering the shallows of a waterway. In the background you can find migratory indigo buntings, a monarch butterfly, and cattails sheltering some little froggy friends.
You can find t-shirts and tote bags with Kat’s designs on our Bonfire store AND new for this year, find stickers, posters, magnets, prints, and notebooks on our Redbubble.
Check out additional 50th Anniversary Fundraiser interviews with our artists here:
Holding onto culture through art with HNin Nie
Celebrating SEAA courage and bravery with Sheena Vang
Khou Vue is celebrating SEAA perseverance
Killamari is representing SEAAs in a big way
Being outspoken about SEAA heritage with Timothy Singratsomboune