The Chandler Center for the Arts is presenting Rice Is Me, a multimedia exhibition by Tucson artist Antoine Nguyen, on view through Feb. 7. The City of Chandler announced the show in a short feature on its official YouTube channel.

Nguyen, whose work is part of the exhibition, said the act of stopping and shaping a grain of rice represents a desire to "pass it down" to the next generation. "When I stop that grain of rice, I'm thinking of very much of passing it down," Nguyen said, describing the project as an effort to preserve and give "the best" to a child.

Rice Is Me includes videos, sculptures, drawings and mixed-media pieces. One featured work, titled Self portrait as a rice keeper No. 1, contains seven hand-sculpted clay rice pieces made from both Vietnamese and American clay, the City said.

Nguyen told viewers that part of the project involved bringing Vietnamese clay into the United States for use in the pieces, arranging for the artist's sister to transport the material. Nguyen framed that decision as part of an immigrant and refugee experience and said the work intentionally combines Vietnamese and American clay to reflect a hybrid cultural identity meant to be passed to the artist's daughter.

"So hopefully, that when the viewer look into my work, they see themselves," Nguyen said, explaining the show aims to create human connection and empathy across differences of race, gender and background. The artist also encouraged visitors to slow down while viewing and look for beauty in simple forms.

For more information, the City of Chandler directed viewers to its official YouTube page. "For the City of Chandler, I'm Lydia Currie," Currie said in closing.