Melissa Nguyen is a Vietnamese Australian artist living and working in Naarm/Melbourne. Her painting-based practice explores the multiplicities of translation as a creative methodology. Through examination of cultural dissonance and positionality as part of the Vietnamese diaspora, Melissa dissects the complex relationship between copy and original. Melissa’s practice takes ‘self-Orientalism’ as a conceptual framework through which she questions the relevance of cultural identity in art. She is represented by Mary Cherry Contemporary, Melbourne.


Panisa Ongwat is a Thai-born artist based in Naarm/Melbourne, working primarily with analogue photography. Her practice draws on her experiences living between cultures, using the camera to document quiet, fleeting moments with honesty and sensitivity. Through a focus on everyday life, she reflects on memory, identity, and the richness found in the in-between.