"Violence & Opportunity" explores diametrically opposed, simultaneously true perspectives on the United States. I pulled passages from classic western novels "Butcher's Crossing" and "Blood Meridian" to illustrate through literature these themes. When paired with images from my parents' early lives as Vietnamese refugees in the U.S. and photo journalism of the My Lai massacre, readers experience the conflicted history of America as a perpetrator of horrific violence and a provider of individual liberty.

I used a symbolic color palette and contrasting type treatments to express the tension between these perspectives on America. Read the full zine here.