OKLAHOMA CITY – A recent community-favorite public sculpture in OKC’s Asian District was badly damaged in a fire late Thursday night, leaving neighborhood leaders and residents shocked and the artists behind the culturally significant art heartbroken and emotional.
The large communal sculpture “We Have Arrived” was installed in the Asian District’s Military Park at NW 25th St. and N. Classen Blvd. in April of 2025, a long-awaited public art triumph to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon and the voyage of the Vietnamese “Boat People” that fled their homeland by sea.
The sculpture by artists Denise Duong and Gabriel Friedman was made to resemble one of the boats they used, built life-sized to accommodate public seating and interaction and adorned with Duong’s unmistakable figure work depicting Vietnamese folklore and history.
The piece was commissioned by the Asian District Cultural Association to pay tribute to countless families and forebears of the district, many of whom themselves settled in Oklahoma City after escaping Vietnam by sea decades ago.
The origins of the fire that caused substantial damage to the piece remain unclear, but OKC Fire confirmed that investigators are working to find those responsible as the artists confirmed that the sculpture will be rebuilt soon and will be dedicated once again to the resilience of Oklahoma’s immigrant community.
“It’s heartbreaking, because so many people are suffering right now, and this is so symbolic of it all,” Duong told Free Press Friday. “The goal is to rebuild it and to just be strong, like we have to be with everything these days.”
Fire under investigation
At 11:46pm Thursday night, OKC Fire responded to reports of a fire in Military Park and arrived to find the sculpture ablaze.
Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire with much of the outer structure intact, though damaged, but the inner structure and seating area nearly destroyed.
When reached by Free Press Friday, OKC Fire Captain John Chenoweth confirmed that their investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire and anyone responsible.
He said that no motives have yet been ruled out, and that investigators are considering the possibility of a racially motivated hate crime as well as a potential transient issue.
“All causes are being considered right now,” Capt. Chenoweth told Free Press. “We’re currently working to get any footage from cameras at nearby businesses to get a better picture of what happened.”
‘The most important piece of art we’ve ever made’
The artists behind the piece said that they were “heartbroken” Friday.
“I’m actually the one that found it this morning,” Friedman said. “The Asian District actually hired me a couple months back to do maintenance because it’s been vandalized so many times before. So I saw it this morning and could just immediately tell from far away that something was wrong.”
While there have been repeated cases of vandalism on the sculpture since its installation, Friedman said they’ve always previously been “juvenile” scribblings and meaningless graffiti, and that he hasn’t seen any clearly racist or hateful vandalism on the piece.
While Friedman and Duong have become regular contributors of public art and sculpture all over OKC and beyond – with some of their pieces at massive scale and visibility – this one has held a particularly deep place in their hearts.
“This is the most important piece of art we’ve ever made in our lives,” Friedman said. “It’s rare for public art to speak to something so cultural and so difficult in the culture, and for it to be so well-received by the community.”
‘Hope, resilience, love, compassion’
Duong and Friedman said that plans were already underway Friday to remove the sculpture from Military Park and to transfer it back to Friedman’s workshop for repair, but also a potential redesign.
“I think I’ll actually be redesigning it slightly in such a way that it hopefully won’t be such a place to attract vandalism,” Friedman said. “So it’ll be coming back, but it actually might not go back to the same spot in the park. We’ll see.”
As emotional and devastating as the news was for Duong, she said that she just wants to see the piece brought back to life a way that continues to honor the immigrant experience and the persistent struggle that resonates today.
“It has so much to do with our community, and not just our Vietnamese community, but our whole immigrant community,” she said. “But the goal now is to rebuild it and to maintain that what the boat is supposed to stand for is hope, resilience, love, compassion.”
Donations are being accepted to help repair and rebuild “We Have Arrived” through an online fundraiser, with over $7,000 raised by Saturday morning.
You can donate here.
Brett Fieldcamp is the owner and Editor in Chief of Oklahoma City Free Press. He has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly two decades and served as Arts & Entertainment Editor before purchasing the company from founder Brett Dickerson in 2026.
He is also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.
