On view in “Life, Liberty, Los Angeles” at The Autry Museum of the American West

See Lee’s art tells the story of war, flight, and arrival in Long Beach, where she and her family settled in 1979. Lee’s family was forced to flee Laos for supporting the U.S. in the Vietnam War. The story cloth records her flight to refugee camps in Thailand, arriving at a U.S. airport, and children going to school and becoming successful. In the 1970s and 1980s, millions of newcomers to Los Angeles, many fleeing wars and persecution, built lives and families alongside long-standing communities.