27.05.2026—28.06.2026
Launch: Wednesday 27th May
‘Human nature’, when written as a compound noun, collapses two distinct meanings into a single term that speaks solely to the essence of humanity. Nature is reduced to a complementary abstraction, stripped of conceptual weight beside a dominant humanity.
Discovering human-nature examines how horticultural practices such as bonsai similarly expose this anthropocentric hierarchy, defined by human exceptionalism and the imposition of human ideals onto other living forms. The hyphen disrupts human centrality, instead foregrounding an inseparable coexistence. Through a sculptural reframing of the bonsai, the exhibition restages and exaggerates their formal qualities, making their logic visible and open to reconfiguration.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Lan Anh Truong is a Vietnamese artist working and studying in Naarm (Melbourne). Spanning drawing, sculpture, and installation, her works explore the comic and spatial potential of found and mass-manufactured objects and materials. This often involves combining the rigour of geometry with organic forms in a playful experimentation of colour, form, and composition. Lan Anh graduated from the VCA with a BFA in 2024 and is currently undertaking her honours degree at Monash University.
Image by: Lan Anh Truong, On Air, 2026, pvc-coated steel garden stakes, pvc garden stake connectors, powder coated steel, dimensions variable.
