Alex Tran

From humble beginnings, an earthbound caterpillar blooms into a beautiful, dazzling moth, capable of flight. Between those stages, a cocoon, where a dramatic and profound transformation takes place.

Metamorphosis is a miracle of adaptability and resilience.

This project is an homage to my mother’s odyssey. In the chaos of the Vietnam War, her family ushered her, aged 16, onto a fishing boat crowded with strangers. Survival at any cost was the goal. Through the unforgiving seas, she and many other boat people found their way to Pulau Tengah, one of several Malaysian islands that became refugee camps. Miraculously, her sisters managed to track her down from Canada. She later found her way to Montreal, where she was reunited with her family.

Metamorphosis is a book of paper moths that represents my mother’s harrowing escape from her home. Each moth wing was cut into the shape of a coastline that was part of her journey.

A caterpillar in war-torn Vietnam.
A cocoon on the Pulau Tengah refugee camp.
A moth reunited with her family and ready to start anew in Montreal.

Metamorphosis is a miracle of adaptability and resilience.