Savanhdary Vongpoothorn - Profile
WORKS EXHIBITIONS PROFILE
Savanhdary Vongpoothorn (b. 1971, Laos) is a painter, sculpture and installation artist known for her perforated canvases and intimate works on paper. She received her Master of Fine Art from the University of New South Wales College of Fine Arts in Australia and her Bachelor of Arts (Visual Arts) from the University of Western Sydney, Australia.
Savandary's practice brings together the arboreal cultures of Laos, Lao cultural memory, and the Australian landscape, weaving them through processes informed by Lao–Pali texts, Theravada Buddhist traditions, and the patterns and rhythms of Lao textile weaving. These foundations intersect with Hindu and Buddhist cosmology, poetry and literature, the socio-political histories of Laos, and the legacies of minimalism and conceptualism in Western art.
Recognised as one of Australia’s leading artists from the Southeast Asian region, Vongpoothorn arrived in Australia with her family when she was eight years old, having fled Laos in 1979. Her deeply contemplative works are remarkable in sustaining creative and critical relationships with multiple influences. Marked by an enduring interest in her Southeast Asian origins and their relationship to contemporary Australia, her works bridges contemporary realities with historical references, advancing a practice that is inherently hybrid and polyvalent.
Vongpoothorn’s works are included in major public collections including the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia; National Gallery Singapore, Singapore; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; and MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Chiang Mai, Thailand. Her works have received international recognition and in 2019, she was the subject of the survey exhibition Savanhdary Vongpoothorn: All that Arises at Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
Vongpoothorn lives and works in Canberra, Australia.
