Ostin Fam

I’m in love with storytelling. Born and raised in Vietnam, I attended Wesleyan University where I earned a BA in Film Studies and a minor in East Asian Studies. In addition to graduating with high honors, I was the recipient of the Steven J. Ross Prize, awarded to the best senior film thesis.

My work seeks to elevate underserved narratives, but rather than attempting to capture the existential pain that comes with underrepresentation, I try and hone in on the specifics of experience.

Fascinated by how we carry our history with us, I created my portrait series, Received Displacement, exploring Asian diaspora in the United States. My senior thesis, short/cut, follows a young Vietnamese American teenager debating her next hair style, and in the process she is forced to confront generational and cultural concepts of beauty.

This notion of cultural fluidity has become a focal point in my work; how we reconcile our identities in different lands with different customs.