A 500-foot mural project in Sacramento’s Little Saigon that purportedly intended to celebrate the Lunar New Year — or Tet in Vietnamese communities — has faced accusations of inaccuracies and exclusion in its creation.
The pieces, which reportedly depict five unique interpretations of the Year of the Dragon, show an assortment of images of dragons, tribespeople and an elderly person. While organizers originally set to unveil the mural on Feb. 10, they postponed it to a later date due to rain and “important community feedback.”
Critics sound off: Some social media users alleged inaccuracies and cultural appropriation in the artworks.
“Not all Asian cultures celebrate Lunar New Year,” one Instagram user wrote. “Making this assumption that any and all vaguely Asian art would be okay illustrates ignorance and a lack of thoughtful research. Why did you do such bare minimum work on such a cultural topic? How much did you divert AWAY from the Asian community in this project?”
“As a first-generation Vietnamese American who was born and raised in Sacramento, I am extremely disgusted by this gross cultural appropriation,” another user noted. “It is clear that our religious holiday is being exploited by culture vultures.”
“None of those tattoos are Kalinga and we don’t even celebrate Lunar New Year,” another user wrote, referring to an image depicting an individual from an indigenous ethnic group in the Philippines.
“There should have been people tapped in these communities to…
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