Exploring diaspora, national identity and longing in the Vietnamese diasporas of Australia.

Featuring works by Lê Nguyên Phương (Vietnam)
Recipient of the Objectifs Documentary Award, Emerging Category
Mentored by Ng Swan Ti

18 May to 16 Jun 2024
Lower Gallery 2, Objectifs
Free admission

Opening | 18 May 2024, 12pm – 9pm

Artist Talk with Lê Nguyên Phương and Dan Tran | 18 May 2024, 4pm – 5pm (Register here)

Online Artist Talks with Choulay Mech, Lê Nguyên Phương, and Kaleb Sitompul | Wed 12 Jun 2024, 7.30pm – 9pm

REGISTER HERE

Hear from the 2023 Documentary Award recipients, Choulay Mech (Cambodia), Lê Nguyên Phương (Vietnam), and Kaleb Sitompul (Indonesia)! They will speak about the social, cultural, and environmental themes in their individual documentary projects, covering topics such as land use, diaspora, and the interconnectedness of nature and humanity.

Sunshine, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne, is home to a Vietnamese-Australian community that started to grow in the 1970s, when a large number of refugees from the American War in Vietnam were settled in Australia. Today, the suburb contains multiple facsimiles of Vietnam in its community practices and environment – references to and longing for a home country that many first-generation immigrants continue to hold close to their hearts. In documenting the suburb, Phương Nguyên Lê addresses notions of diaspora, national identity and longing.

About the artist

Lê Nguyên Phương (b. 2002) is a Vietnamese emerging artist studying in Naarm (Melbourne). He is currently interested in exploring the occupying space between documentary and art photography with projects that concern his surrounding communities. He hopes to further expand his research and practice in collaboration with emerging Vietnamese and South East Asian art and photography voices.

About the Mentor

Ng Swan Ti, Managing Director of PannaFoto Institute, started her career as a photographer in 2000. Recently, she has been involved in various photography initiatives as co-curator Vision 20/20: Community exhibition (Jakopič Gallery, 2020), Erratic Dream (PhMuseum, 2021), Tracing Inherited History (Hong Kong International Photo Festival, 2021), Space (Jakarta International Photo Festival, 2021), Revival (Jakarta International Photo Festival, 2022). She also served on the World Press Photo selection committees for the Joop Swart Masterclass (2016) and one of the mentors for Women Photograph Mentorship Class (2022).

Presented by Objectifs
Supported by Cultural Matching Fund

Related events:
Artist Talk with Kaleb Sitompul and Ng Swan Ti | 18 May 2024, 1pm – 2pm (Register here)
Artist Talk with Choulay Mech and Roger Nelson | Sat 18 May 2024, 2.30pm – 3.30pm (Register here)