Frozen Resilience

Our lives are shaped by constant change, compelling us to continuously adapt and grow. As a new immigrant, I experienced my first winter. It was a season filled with unexpected challenges that tested my resilience and forced me to reconsider my relationship with my surroundings. The biting cold left my hands numb and my thoughts slow, making me feel unsettled and lost. Yet, in the midst of this frozen stillness, I noticed the plants in my garden quietly growing with unwavering strength.

Inspired by their resilience, I embarked on a photographic exploration, using flowers to reinterpret the energy held within stillness. I collected blooms from my garden and sealed them in ice, freezing them at the threshold of transformation. This act became a metaphor in itself. The preservation not only captured their fragile and fleeting beauty but also suspended them in a moment of paused time.

Through experimental methods, I created a new visual language for these flowers, giving them renewed narrative and life. Encased in ice and surrounded by bubbles, these frozen forms revealed a subtle tension. Vitality flows quietly through the gaze of each portrait.

Photographed during my second winter as an immigrant, this series is more than an artistic experiment. It is a journey of adaptation, transformation, and inner reflection. Through this project, I seek to capture the quiet strength that emerges in the face of life’s challenges.

All photographs and the photobook are available for collectors.For inquiries or to make a purchase, please contact Chris Wong at:📧 [email protected]

Feature in Publication

Blue Notebook - https://www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk/blue_notebook/tbn40.pdf

Photo Award

2025 - Head On Photo Award Exposure Category - Semi-Finalist (Australia)

2025 - LOOK! Prize:  Museum of Australian Photography Atrium Gallery - Finalist- (Australia)

Photo Book Award

2025 - Libris Awards: The Australian Artists’ Book Prize - Nomination 

2025 - Hong Kong Photobook Dummy Award - Nomination 

Photo Group Exhibition

2025 - Head on Digital Exhibition at Bondi Pavilion Gallery (Australia, Sydney) 

2025 - LOOK! Prize:  Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh) Atrium Gallery - (Australia, Melbourne)

Photobook Group Exhibition

2026 - Across the Binding x香港攝影小誌及樣本書獎巡迴展 (Taiwan)

2026 -  Leipzig Photobook Festival, Center for Contemporary Art in Leipzig (Germany)

2026 -  Shutter Hub OPEN 2026 exhibition: Shutter Hub Pop-Up Photobook Library at Cambridge University (UK)

2026 -  Offset Project Library, Studio and Bookshop at New Delhi (India)

2025 - 40 X 40 Exhibition, Newcastle Art Space (Newcastle, Australia, Newcastle)

2025 - Libris Awards: The Australian Artists’ Book Prize (Mackay, Australia)

2025 - Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (Thailand) 

2025 - Forbundet Frie Fotografer Photo Library, Fotobokfestival Oslo (Norway)

2025 - Fotogalleriet, Lovely House (Brazil)

2025 - Hong Kong Photobook Dummy Award 2025 (Hong Kong)  

Title: Frozen Resilience 

Authors / Book Concept / Photography / Design: Chris Wong

Book Production: Hand-made book

Publisher: Self-published

Edition: 50, each signed and numbered on the artist statement page. 

Release Date / Publication Date: February 2025

Size: 194mm x 284mm x 8mm (W x H x D), Extension 2328mm x 284mm (W x H)

Format/ Binding: Hand-Folded Concertina Style Binding

Type of Printing: Pigment Inkjet Printing

Paper: 230gsm Double-Sided Matte Fine Art Photographic Paper and 1000gsm Paperboard Hard Cover

Number of Pages: 22 pages

Number of Images: 23 images

Language: English

Printing: Australia