I Wish I Knew You by Lisa Kelly

Commissioned as part of BrisAsia Festival 2024, the artist depicts the experience so many second-generation immigrant children come to know, understanding the love and sacrifice of their parents and the foreign homes left behind.

Kelly’s Ba Ngoai (grandmother) passed away in Saigon, Vietnam. Only 15, Kelly became deeply aware of her disconnection to culture and identity. Her grief was not only for her Grandmother but for the connection to her Vietnamese heritage & the life her Mother had left behind.

Reflecting on themes of loss, longing, and inherent language-less love, the artists Grandmother to the left, holds a glowing orb of hope for her daughter and the life that she might lead by traveling to a new, safer country, Australia. In the centre, Kelly’s Mother holds her own orb, one of selfless love for her family & a longing for community in Brisbane. The child on the right is a self-portrait of the artist, unaware at this age of her orb symbolising the sacrifices Kelly’s mother made by leaving her home to build a new life for her & the connection to her heritage.