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The ArtWorks Center is opening a new exhibit featuring artist Maw Reh. The show opens Friday, Feb. 7 at 10 a.m. and closes Friday, April 4. 

Maw Reh was born in a refugee camp, across the border with Thailand and grew up in  the camp until age nine, when his family was granted refugee status to immigrate to the  United States. In the space of just a few days — the time to get from the refugee camp to  Bangkok, and then a plane to America — Maw transitioned from a non-industrial life in  the tropics of Thailand to an urban desert in Phoenix, Arizona. 

That journey of distance was also about people and traditions left behind, of figuring out and fitting into a new  culture and a new language, of being the child cared-for to becoming the care-taker for  sometimes less agile elders. These pieces, these stories of Maw’s life inform his art.  

With an abiding love for his culture, much of Maw’s art celebrates the Karenni people, his work  recognizes the beauty of his culture, while acknowledging the struggles of those still  fleeing conflict, confined to a refugee camp, or struggling to feel part of a new culture. 

The public is invited to come and meet Maw on the opening day of the exhibit. 

For more information, visit www.austinareaarts.org or call the Austin ArtWorks Center  office Tuesday through Saturday during regular business hours at 507-434-0934.