Those of you familiar with this blog know that Matt Huynh’s name pops up here from time to time. Most recently, Matt illustrated my short story, ‘The Three-Dimensional Yellow Man’, for The Lifted Brow.
Matt is a Vietnamese-Australian artist based in New York City. His clients include The New York Times, Esquire, Men’s Health, Bloomberg Business Week and Adobe. Creative Sydney Festival named him one of Sydney’s most innovative cultural contributors for his graphic novel work. His work appears in the Museum of Modern Art’s collection and his comics have been presented on the Sydney Opera House stage.
On 5 February, Matt was in Sydney to launch his comic book, MA, at a one night only exhibition at The Tate in Glebe.
MA is based on the journey of Matt’s family to Australia as “boat people” in the 1980s. The story focuses on Matt’s parents – forced to flee their home and families by the escalating Vietnam War. In Malaysia’s Pulau Bidong refugee camps, they treasure pockets of silliness and romance as they learn to raise two boys and await news from home and of their uncertain future.
Listen to Matt talking to Jess Scully on 2ser about the launch and exhibition.
Read about MA in this article by Graeme McGregor, Refugee Campaign Coordinator for Amnesty International Australia.
Read MA online for free and/or buy a copy from Matt’s store.
Here are some photos I took on the night.
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- Some of Matty’s X-Men fan art, drawn when he was 10.
