Mom’s Tiger Shrike

Posted on May 14, 2023 by Kimberley Luu

Mom’s Tiger Shrike: 16″ x 12″ Acrylic on Canvas

The tiger shrike is Vietnam’s national bird and considered a symbol of courage—that is, the persistence to face challenges despite the physical, psychological, and moral risks in doing so. It is a perfect descriptor for my mom, who never stopped walking the path to freedom for my family since sailing away on a deathly mission to her first refugee camp in Indonesia.

There she was, barely 24, boarding unknown waters, never knowing if she’d see her family again. Never knowing if she was going to make it to land. Never knowing if pirates were going to show up at her door. Never knowing when her next meal was going to be. Never knowing if the U.N. was going to find her. Never knowing if she was going to make it out alive, really. Yet still, never ceasing to give her partner (now, my dad) and the camp’s children all her love.

Flowers for Soon Chung Park

Posted on May 8, 2021 by Kimberley Luu

Peace Power Love

Flowers for Soon Chung Park, 74; Suncha Kim, 69; Yong Ae Yue, 63; Hyun Jung Grant, 51; Xiaojie Tan, 49; Daoyou Feng, 44; Paul Andre Michels, 54; Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33
Peace: 9″ x 6″ Watercolor on Cold Press
Power: 8.5″ x 8″ Watercolor on Cold Press
Love: 9″ x 6.5″ Watercolor on Cold Press
Prints available on Society6

Rest in peace and
the power we are taking back
Soften into
the immense afterglow of love
you ignited in all of us
and these flowers—
they are for you,
Dear ones
Home grown
with bittersweet tears and gentle light;
Immortal blooms
that will not be forgotten
(I’ll make sure of it).

Yoni Shakti Rising

Posted on June 24, 2020 by Kimberley Luu

: Intention

: Breath Visualization

: Yogic Sleep

Meditating Women: 6″ x 8″ x 1.5″ Acrylic on Birch Panels (3 of 15)
Full series on display at The Nidra Nest

Be aware of this movement. She is growing and unstoppable.
Yoni Shakti is rising, and you’d best be accountable.
Yoginis and allies: spread the word.
The fire of survivors will be heard,
so that femmes may reclaim yoga in it’s original canvas—
a sacred tradition for healing and justice.

COMPILATION OF EVIDENCE [info]
A list of highly positioned yoga teachers who have enacted gender-based abuse unto their students, along with their supporting institutions.

THIRTEEN WARNING SIGNALS [info] [poster]
Cautionary indicators that a yoga teacher, community, and/ or institution may be perpetrating gender-based abuse.

NINE CALLS TO ACTION [info] [poster]
What we must do to effectively resist and dismantle industrial yoga’s structures of gender-based abuse.

WOMB-FRIENDLY YOGA MANIFESTO [info]
Yoga techniques to avoid or practice with caution throughout the womb’s various cycles and conditions.

Dharana

Posted on June 22, 2019 by Kimberley Luu

Dharana: 11″ x 4″ Watercolor on Cold Press
Prints available on Society6

Focus on a single object. It could be anything. God or a mushroom. Whatever else is happening, whatever is swirling through your head… concentrate like its the most important thing in the entire universe. Grow acutely aware of every tiny detail of the object, as if consumed in a metaphysical dance with it. And when the chaos tries to steal you away—smile at it. Then, refocus.

My Mother’s Plants

Posted on May 20, 2019 by Kimberley Luu

Sunburst: 24″ x 24″ Acrylic on Canvas Print

The plants that
Sit
inside my mother’s house are
Gorgeously Blooming
all year long
with
Radiant Life.

She hasn’t read a single book on
horticulture or
used a special fertilizer but I think
they trust her.
Although they haven’t been around her whole life
I have a feeling they Know
of

all the meals she cooked for us
all the messes she cleaned up after us
all the dreams she made real for us and
all the nurturance she channeled to us
when we had fallen to the ground and could not get up
on our own—

I have a good feeling they Know
that she risked her life escaping chains for us
that she worked day and night to build a better life for us
that she breathed patiently throughout our reckless years for us and
that she loved us to the moon no matter what.

I’m fairly certain they’ve always Known
that their life was sown
by
Selfless Hands
enamored with
more than enough
Care
they needed to g r o w.

Love Grows

Posted on April 11, 2019 by Kimberley Luu

Love Grows: 11″ x 14″ Watercolor and Ink on Cold Press
Prints available on Society6

Maitri (loving-kindness) is not an uncontrollable force of nature, subject to the volatile highs and lows of the human mind. It is not something you just get persuaded into accidentally by the damned physical laws of attraction, for better or for worse. Maitri is an infinite energy, limitless and timeless. It can be grown like a tree, so tall and so strong, yet delicately sensitive and responsive to its environment; adaptive within a multitude of climates. Rooted in the fertile grounds of anahata (heart cakra), the practice of cultivation and care rests in your hands.