Lan Anh Truong

Initially inspired by my mother’s bonsai garden, my practice reflects on our relationship with the natural world and an instinct to control. Growing up in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam, I witnessed my mother’s ideal forms growing years after years, under the tips of her favourite bonsai tools. Picking up similar cutting devices and wiring techniques here in Naarm/Melbourne, I reimagine the concept and practice of gardening through a reconfiguration of mass-manufactured objects and materials.

My sculptural gardens grow out of their architectural surroundings, consisting of components that often fit together by chance and are gradually bent by gravity, surrendering to impermanence and imperfection. Through playful experimentation with the logics of assembly, my work contemplates on the relationship between the geometric and the organic; seeking to examine the perpetual possibility of spatial arrangement; all the while facilitating a middle ground for intergenerational gardening.