25 Year Anniversary and a Special Loop with Trong Gia Nguyen

As we celebrate 25 years of LA LOOP, it was important to create a unique style that captured the true essence of our story. Elizabeth had the profound experience of meeting and collaborating with artist Trong Gia Nguyen. Trong Gia Nguyen, a Vietnamese American artist based in Brussels, dissects structures of power through his work. His blend of humor and sober reflection reveals the undercarriage of our most trusted spaces—domestic, cultural, political, and economic. More of Trong's story and work can be found on his website.

Here's the story of the chance meeting and a conversation between the two friends. 

In 2022, fate led me to Trong Gia Nguyen at an art gallery dinner in Brussels. Trong, a soulful artist, devoted dad, and free spirit, shared his story and vision. Inspired, he crafted the Luna LOOP—a tribute to his daughter, Luna, and the multifaceted LA LOOP community. The circular silver spiral adds depth, echoing the diverse wearers of LA LOOP. Paired with jagged silver beads, the Luna Loop pays homage to our silver anniversary.  

 

Q/EF:  As we celebrate 25 years of LA LOOP, we couldn’t be more excited about sharing your story with our loopers.  What would you want our loopers to know about you?

TGN: Besides being the stereotype creative and that I am an advocate for artificial intelligence re-writing the Constitution and voting on all our behalf? Well, I’m excited too! And speaking of anniversaries, next year is the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam-American War, or “reunification” as they say in the east. It’s apropos then to give a little shout out to the theater project I am currently working on, based on my family’s refugee story. Through a distorted surrealist lens, I use the pseudo-documentary as a starting point to explore much broader conflicts while beaming a light on the current state of our collective humanity. It’s titled THE LEAVERS.

Q/EF:  What does working on this LA LOOP mean to you?  As you have gotten to know LA LOOP through working together if you had to pick one word to describe LA LOOP what would it be?

TGN: Ever since I lost most of my stored artworks and family archives due to a flood in New York several years ago, it had me seriously questioning the necessity for putting more things into the world, even for the sake of art. I’m not so interested in “making things” at the moment, per se, so something has to really push me hard to get it produced. Collaborating with LA LOOP had that “it” quality, where everything just felt right for all the right reasons. I am a firm believer in harnessing positive energies in order to amplify and redirect it. As for a single word, that is not easy! But I am a fanboy of the LOOPin initiative and its progressive support of activist communities, so I’m going to go with “accessoRISE”.

Thank you Trong for your deep insight and construction of this celebratory piece. 

Check out The Luna here. Each limited edition Luna Loop comes with a certificate signed by Trong's daughter, Luna Noon.