Savandhary Vongpoothorn

Born in Laos in 1971, Savandhary Vongpoothorn came to Australia in 1979. She completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts at the University of Western Sydney and a Masters of Fine Arts at UNSW College of Fine Arts. She has undertaken numerous residencies in Australia and overseas including in Scotland, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam and India.

She currently lives and works in Canberra. Her works are largely inspired by her own experience of being born on the banks of the Mekong River in Laos and living by the basin of the Murray River in Australia. This results in artworks that features the natural environment such as grass, vines, seeds and symbols of Buddhism.

Her recent exhibits are Savanhary Vongpoothorn: Aflame, Campbelltown Arts Centre, NSW, Australia (2023), Savanhdary Vongpoothorn: All that arises, Drill Hall Gallery, Acton ACT, Australia (2019), Know My Name: Australian Women Artists 1900 to now, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2020), Ties of History: Art in Southeast Asia, Metropolitan Museum of Manila, University of the Philippines Vargas Museum and Yuchengco Museum, Manila, Philippines (2018). In 2006, Vongpoothorn was commissioned to create a major new work for the 15th Biennale of Sydney, she was also a finalist in the 2016 Sir John Sulman Prize. Recently, she was commissioned by Campbelltown Art Cenre in Sydney to create a public art mural.

Vongpoothorn’s work is included in important public, private and corporate collections, including the National Gallery Singapore, Singapore, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; World Bank, New York; Artbank, Sydney; Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; and the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.