Story of a boat person Canvas Print

This painting depicts my personal story of 1975.
The detail of the three white flowers on my dress represents my sister, my brother, and I. All three of us became orphans after the escape from Vietnam.
The two ships represent the Vietnamese merchant ship that took us from Saigon to international water before the engine dies and a cargo ship from Denmark brought us to Hong Kong.
The group of yellow butterflies represents us - the boat people fleeing Vietnam to freedom.
The blue butterfly represents the healing of an old wound.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_boat_people

I was born in Saigon, Vietnam. Being very shy, I spent much of my childhood hiding away upstairs painting, instead of playing with other children. My first brush with success was a Best of Show prize at the 1974 children's exhibition in Saigon sponsored by UNICEF. In 1975 Saigon fell and in the resulting confusion I was separated from my parents. I ended up in a refuge camp near Hong Kong for a year prior to immigrating to the United States as an orphan. After one very snowy and cold winter in Pennsylvania, I went to Los Angeles to stay with some relatives. During my high school years, I earned extra money doing fashion modeling work in the garment district and upon graduation started on the pre-med program in college. During this...