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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

James Vu Anh Pham and Tara Jade Samaya from 'The Knowledge Between Us', n.d.

Pippa Samaya

inkjet print on paper

Dancers James Vu Anh Pham and Tara Jade Samaya
have performed with major dance companies in
Australia and around the world, including working
together at Melbourne’s Chunky Move with acclaimed
Dutch choreographer Anouk Van Dijk. This image
was taken during the shoot for the award-winning
60-second dance film The Knowledge Between Us,
produced by the Samaya Wives.
Pippa Samaya explores the physicality of dance
against the natural landscape in many of her films and
photographs. Interviewed for RealTime in 2017, Pippa
described the role of dance in her work: ‘dance allows
me to capture things that are outside of myself and
it’s purely visual. Dance provided me a visual language
for all those complex, inner emotional states of being
human. It enabled me to express things that words
can’t and allows a level of empathy that’s otherwise
difficult to find.’

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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

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