Khảm Tho (Pearl Poem)
2025 - cont.
An ongoing exploration of Khảm xà cừ (mother of pearl inlay). Intersecting Vietnamese lineages and generational craft.
2025 - cont.
An ongoing exploration of Khảm xà cừ (mother of pearl inlay). Intersecting Vietnamese lineages and generational craft.
January 2025 - Air
Huế
(Huế, Vietnam), Artist Residency
Reflective vinyl on polyester áo dài textile, strecthed on canvas frame
152 x 122 x 83 mm
(Huế, Vietnam), Artist Residency
Reflective vinyl on polyester áo dài textile, strecthed on canvas frame
152 x 122 x 83 mm
April 2025 - Pari Ari
(Gadigal Land/Sydney, Australia), Group Show
Brick Stool
Spray paint, brick, mortar, reflective vinyl
With Amy Hill, Georgia Mulholland, Intizor Otaniyozova, Jenn Tran, Justin Cueno, Leo Bagus Purnomo, Lige Qiao, Samer Almansour and Zuraisa
Curated by Emma Cao, Sehej Kaur Sehmbhi and Naomi Segal
Photo by Jessica Maurer
(Gadigal Land/Sydney, Australia), Group Show
Brick Stool
Spray paint, brick, mortar, reflective vinyl
With Amy Hill, Georgia Mulholland, Intizor Otaniyozova, Jenn Tran, Justin Cueno, Leo Bagus Purnomo, Lige Qiao, Samer Almansour and Zuraisa
Curated by Emma Cao, Sehej Kaur Sehmbhi and Naomi Segal
Photo by Jessica Maurer
September 2025 - Blindside Galley
(Wurundjeri Land/Melbourne, Australia), Group Show/ Activation
Tv Dinner Altar
Laser cut plywood, enamel spray paint, tablet display, rotoscoped graphite animation
310 x 500 x 170 mm
TV Dinner Altar is a multimedia sculptural work that weaves together childhood family dinners and Vietnamese-Australian diasporic experiences. Rooted in personal memory, the work honours cơm gia đình (family dinner) while reimagining the altar as a site of devotion to familial gestures of nourishment, Channel 7 and the quiet weight of routine.
Tran draws from the stylisation of khảm xà cừ altars (Vietnamese pearl inlay) to frame an ode to her cơm gia đình.
The scent of fresh rice, wintermelon shrimp soup and braised catfish, remembering Home and Away, Deal or No Deal, or 7 News playing in the background as we ate. These shows became more than just background noise, they were inadvertent household deities, watching them in ritualistic devotion together. As my parents did not speak English well, the cheap drama of Home and Away and Grant Denyer’s gameshow charisma was compelling and a weird form of connection between us all. We didn’t always speak the same language, but we shared Deal or No Deal and cơm gia đình.
This work stems in a lot of quiet negotiations of identity and of food shared across silences as weekday television held space. Diasporic memory often feels collaged where it is layered with fragments of struggle, survival, daily rituals, and living with the cultural contrast between parents and their children. TV Dinner Altar attempts to hold that fragmentation with tenderness and humour. A necessary softness that holds the heavier things for me.
With Amy Hill, Georgia Mulholland, Intizor Otaniyozova, Jenn Tran, Justin Cueno, Leo Bagus Purnomo, Lige Qiao, Samer Almansour and Zuraisa
Photo by Lê Nguyên Phương
(Wurundjeri Land/Melbourne, Australia), Group Show/ Activation
Tv Dinner Altar
Laser cut plywood, enamel spray paint, tablet display, rotoscoped graphite animation
310 x 500 x 170 mm
TV Dinner Altar is a multimedia sculptural work that weaves together childhood family dinners and Vietnamese-Australian diasporic experiences. Rooted in personal memory, the work honours cơm gia đình (family dinner) while reimagining the altar as a site of devotion to familial gestures of nourishment, Channel 7 and the quiet weight of routine.
Tran draws from the stylisation of khảm xà cừ altars (Vietnamese pearl inlay) to frame an ode to her cơm gia đình.
The scent of fresh rice, wintermelon shrimp soup and braised catfish, remembering Home and Away, Deal or No Deal, or 7 News playing in the background as we ate. These shows became more than just background noise, they were inadvertent household deities, watching them in ritualistic devotion together. As my parents did not speak English well, the cheap drama of Home and Away and Grant Denyer’s gameshow charisma was compelling and a weird form of connection between us all. We didn’t always speak the same language, but we shared Deal or No Deal and cơm gia đình.
This work stems in a lot of quiet negotiations of identity and of food shared across silences as weekday television held space. Diasporic memory often feels collaged where it is layered with fragments of struggle, survival, daily rituals, and living with the cultural contrast between parents and their children. TV Dinner Altar attempts to hold that fragmentation with tenderness and humour. A necessary softness that holds the heavier things for me.
With Amy Hill, Georgia Mulholland, Intizor Otaniyozova, Jenn Tran, Justin Cueno, Leo Bagus Purnomo, Lige Qiao, Samer Almansour and Zuraisa
Photo by Lê Nguyên Phương
Photo by: Lê Nguyên Phương