Savanhdary Vongpoothorn

Savanhdary Vongpoothorn (born 1971) is a Laotian-born Australian visual artist. She immigrated with her parents as a seven-year old, and through studies and travel has integrated Laotian, Vietnamese and Australian influences in her art. She has exhibited widely in Australia and Singapore, and her works are held in major state and regional galleries across Australia. She lives and works in Canberra.

Early life and education Savanhdary Vongpoothorn was born in Champasak, Laos, in 1971 and came to Australia as a seven year-old in 1978. In 1970 her anti-communist father was about to be sent to a re-education camp and escaped to Thailand. Her mother then took the children and crossed the Mekong River into Thailand with a people smuggler. After nine months in a Thai refugee camp, an Australian aunt sponsored them to emigrate to Australia. Her work today evokes her Buddhist background.

Vongpoothorn is a devout Buddhist. She grew up in a community that practiced Tehravada Buddhism that is prevalent in South and Southeast Asia. Lessons from her upbringing can sometimes be reflected in the titles of her works.

She graduated with a visual arts degree from the University of Western Sydney in 1992, and then earned a masters in visual arts from the College of Fine Art (part of the University Of New South Wales) in 1993.

Time and motherhood helped her feel anchored in Australia and as the artist has said in interview:"Feeling at home in Australia is an anchor, it allows me the freedom to go back to the place of my birth in my mother’s village in Champasak and research for my current work. I guess the reason why the Australian landscape is not present in my current work is because I am home."

2016 Ramayana on the Mekong, Martin Browne Contemporary, Sydney 2014 All is Burning, Martin Browne Contemporary, Sydney 2013 The Beautiful as Force, Martin Browne Contemporary, Sydney 2011 Stone down a Well, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne 2008 Re-enchantment, Martin Browne Fine Art, Sydney 2005 Incantation, Martin Browne Fine Art at The Yellow House, Sydney 2004 A Certain Distance, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne 2003 Martin Browne Fine Art at The Yellow House, Sydney 2002 bindi dot tartan zen, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne 2000 Niagara Galleries, Melbourne 2000 King Street Gallery, Sydney 1998 King Street Gallery, Sydney 1998 Holy Threads – Lao Tradition and Inspiration, Campbelltown City Art Gallery, Sydney (exhibited with Lao textiles from 19th & 20th century) 1997 Tradition and Interpretation, King Street Gallery, Sydney Mutual Art lists the following exhibitions: 2020 GG | ABHK 2020, Gajah Gallery, Singapore 2020 Broken Sutra, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne 2019 Shaping Geographies: Art. Woman. Southeast Asia, Gajah Gallery, Singapore 2019 All that arises, Drill Hall Gallery, ANU 2019 Abstract 19, King Street Gallery, Sydney together with nine other exhibitions.

Collections She has works in the collections of:

The National Gallery of Australia (Moonlight 1, 2001) The National Gallery of Victoria (Of water and of clouds I-VIII) The Art Gallery of New South Wales (Lifting words, 2011) QAGOMA (together with Mungsamai Vongpoothorn, polymer paint on perforated canvas) She is also said to have works in the collections of the Campbelltown Arts Centre, the Wollongong University art collection, the University of Western Sydney art collection, and the Cruthers collection in the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery (but is not listed in the Cruthers 2018 list of artworks and artists).