I was born in the U.S. and raised by Vietnamese parents, refugees of a war long before my time. As a first-generation child with no siblings, I always felt as though I was caught in a permanent void - part of many worlds but belonging to none.

When I turned 24 years old, I left the U.S. and moved overseas alone in search of a place which I hoped would feel more like a natural home. I ended up in Vietnam, a symbolic homecoming and stark contrast in many regards, but it proved to be no different in the ways that I hoped it would.

In America, I was Vietnamese. In Vietnam, I was American.

My pilgrimage had only magnified my alienation, so I traveled on, harboring some strange belief that the open road would hold answers to questions that I hadn't even defined yet. But the farther away I ran, the clearer one thing became: there is no perfect place but the one which resides within us.

Street and documentary photography played a pivotal role in my personal development at the time, as it continues to today. It reminds me to look for that common thread which connects us all - something not bound by circumstance, language or geography.

I hope that my images can one day become a reflection of this.