A YOUNG Sydney artist opened her first exhibition, Memory Maps: Griffith, at the Regional Art Gallery on Friday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Thinking outside the box, 28-year-old Suzanne Nguyen spoke to 20 Griffith locals in a bid to re-tell their stories from her very own, artistic perspective.
"When I first came to Griffith and started talking to people, all the conversations had one common theme lapping and looping," Ms Nguyen said.
"People come and go. Many have run away, studied away or found work outside the area, and then they return."
Commissioned by the art gallery because of her growing reputation in the art world, Ms Nguyen spent two months talking to locals about their "loops" and the reasons that keep bringing people back to Griffith.
"I was very inspired by people's stories of looping, and with my exhibition I wanted to challenge the idea of what art is," she said.
"As an artist, I move away from traditional methods of art, of pretty pictures on the wall and encourage participation and engagement."
Creating an interactive art space with MP3 players, a live stream video camera and the option to do a "loop" around a stylised Banna Avenue, the artist allows visitors to become "part of ephemeral-projected artwork".
"People are also encouraged to draw their own 'memory maps' of Griffith," Ms Nguyen said.
The exhibition, which is unlike any other staged at the gallery in recent times, runs until the end of August.