Hoang Tran Nguyen, Leila Doneo Baptist and Sebastian Henry-Jones
“House of Mother Tongue, House of Other Tongue”
As part of Hoang Tran Nguyen's 2022 West Space Commission, House of Mother Tongue, House of Other Tongue he spoke with exhibition curator Sebastian Henry-Jones and West Space Gallery Assistant Leila Doneo Baptist.
Presented across West Space and Footscray Community Arts Centre, House of Mother Tongue, House of Other Tongue addresses colonial legacies of monolingualism and its impact on minority languages, power and subjectivity.
Hoang Tran Nguyen is an artist working in social practice to address overlapping cultural histories, politics of place and the role of the art-worker. His work has featured in self-initiated projects arts festivals and galleries. He is currently a PhD candidate at the Victorian College of the Arts (University of Melbourne).
Leila Doneo Baptist is an undisciplined artist with Asian-Middle Eastern-Australian ancestry, who grew up on Djugun-Yawuru land in Western Australia. Their work is informed by dispersed mixed-race histories with a focus on creative practice as an opportunity for relational connection, decolonial healing and what it means to be speaking from a settler-immigrant positionality on stolen land. Leila currently lives and works in Naarm-Melbourne.
Sebastian Henry-Jones is the Curator at West Space. His curatorial approach is led by an interest in DIY thinking, and situated in the context provided by the gentrification of Sydney and Melbourne’s cultural landscapes.