Before I Was Coral, I Was a Refugee

Join us on June 18th, 2026 for the opening of Before I Was Coral, I Was a Refugee, a solo exhibition by Alvin Luong. 

Before I Was Coral, I Was a Refugee centres around the waypoint of Bidong Island, Malaysia, a refugee camp that became the most densely populated place on earth in the fallout of the Vietnam-America War. Today home to a commercial coral farming operation, the island becomes an anchor for Luong’s atmospheric video works, which rest among frottage and sculptural references to Bidong.

Before I Was Coral, I Was a Refugee offers a shifting glimpse into an underwater world, where the cross-Pacific extraction of coral from at-risk coastal waters echoes the movements and displacement of Vietnamese refugees fifty years prior.

Alvin Luong works with stories of human migration, land, and dialogues from diasporic working class communities to create artworks that reflect upon historical development and its intimate effects on the lives of people. Luong has exhibited at the Backyard Biennial by Whitechapel Gallery (2026), Mercer Union (2026); Times Art Museum, Guangzhou (2024); The Polygon Gallery, Vancouver (2021); and Gudskul, Jakarta (2019). He has held resident artist appointments at the Inside-Out Art Museum, Beijing; HB Station Contemporary Art Research Center, Guangzhou; and the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. He was longlisted for the Sobey Art Award (2023), and his works are held in the TD Bank Art Collection, Toronto; and the Permanent Collection of The Rockefeller Foundation, New York City.

Image courtesy of the artist.