Trinh Mai

Artist Statement

Trinh Mai writes and shares spoken word to explore what it means to be human—to navigate layered identities and love in complex, evolving relationships. She brings these same questions into her work as a clinical social worker (psychotherapist). Previously, Trinh worked at the University of Utah as a social work professor, mindfulness educator and well-being specialist. A proud immigrant from Vietnam, Trinh integrates teachings from her cultural and spiritual roots, drawing deeply from the wisdom of the matriarchs in her family.
I wrote these two spoken word pieces to process and transform grief—both in my relationship with my mother and in the metamorphoses of midlife. I plan to pair them in performance with qigong, an ancestral Chinese practice of poetic movements to work with energy. I will invite the audience into a brief practice to help us hold and move the energies of grief together.