Refugee's art wins dedicated prize

Leaving his wife and much of his family behind, Minh Phan's father made his escape from Vietnam with two of his sons on a cramped fishing boat.

"He left the younger brother for the surname to go on and he took us as pot luck. If we made it that's good,” Mr Phan said.

And they did make it to Australian shores, only after being picked up in the South China Sea by a brightly-coloured Norwegian oil tanker.

"Having spent five days surrounded by blue sea and to have this speck of orange come up and engulf your visual field in orange," he said.

Thirty years later, this Melbourne doctor and part-time artist is celebrating what has become a heirloom for his now re-united refugee family; the visa entry to its new homeland.

"When you a refugee. You are stateless." He said.

Once this documentation was granted, it became the lynch-pin for our official recognition." He said.

And Minh Phan's art has been "officially recognised" in the national Heartlands Refugee Fine Art prize, which features an array of work from 15 countries.

"This prize is a real celebration of that influx of new culture into Australia and also in doing that it shows that Australia has great connections to many cultures across the world so it's quite a global picture."

The main prize was taken out by Minela Krupic for her piece highlighting the Bosnian refugee's escape from her war-torn homeland.

The artwork captures the various chapters of the refugee story since 1970 as well as the often diverse interpretations that new arrivals have of the Australian identity.

Afghani Nasrulla Qannadian engraved an image of the late Princess Diana in this glass work to reflect on our ties with Britain.

"Starting at the top with Di and the wedding of Prince William, all the way through to an amazing array of Australian images." Mr Qannadian said.

'It's a fresh vision of an artist coming into Australia, people that he admires for their work in the community." Mr Phan said.

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