Dao Tang (b. 2002) is a Vietnamese-Chinese interdisciplinary artist born in Sài Gòn, Vietnam. Tang received her BFA from Wichita State University in 2026 where she worked as a gallery assistant for ShiftSpace and Clayton Staples Gallery. Her works has been exhibited in shows across Kansas.The idealization and suppression of childhood memory give insight into her own cognitive coping mechanisms. She seeks to understand these internal “Pandora’s boxes” without taboo or shame. Recently, she delved into the resistance of repressed recollections of childhood sexual abuse. She incorporates Chinese and Vietnamese Buddhist mythology alongside childhood objects such as dolls, toys, clothing, and environments to make sense of her own psyche and behaviors.

From me to you at 23 (2025-26)

2025

2024

2023

Idealization, repression, and suppression of childhood memories is an unconscious tendency throughout my life. I want to understand how childhood sexual abuse shaped these coping mechanisms that I have carried into adulthood. My process largely involves memory recall. I observe its quality or lack thereof, the resistance in my mind to unlock these pandora's boxes despite having the key to some of them. There are patterns that I have noticed such as the depiction of my younger self, my avoidance of the experience itself, and my focus on the before and after the trauma. To stay true to these recalls, I sometimes had to ruin something beautiful and hard-earned with scratches and stains. I hope that in its honesty, others who are left with the aftermath of similar experiences may find resonance.