Rituals & Traditions of Sydney

Why do Muslims fast during Ramadan, why do Vietnamese people make offerings to ancestors and clean their houses before Tet (Lunar New Year) and what do Russians eat on feasting day for Orthodox Easter?

Danny Huynh's Rituals & Traditions of Sydney, a new photography exhibition opening at the Museum of Sydney on 14 February, invites you on a photographic journey through the mosques, temples and churches of Fairfield City in Sydney’s south-west.

This compelling series of photographs by Danny Huynh depict the rituals and traditions of three cultural communities in Fairfield City captured during celebrations for Ramadan, Lunar New Year and Russian Orthodox Easter.

To celebrate both the opening of the exhibition and Vietnamese and Chinese New Year, First Government House Place on the forecourt of the Museum of Sydney, will come alive with Lion Dragon dancers, music, martial arts performances and a talk by with photographer Danny Huynh and curator Kim Tao at a special event on Sunday 15 February from 1.30pm.

Danny Huynh said photographing these rituals was an experience he will never forget: “I grew up in Cabramatta and I celebrate Lunar New Year with my family, but this was the first time I had seen many of these rituals. Though they are distinctly different, there are also strong similarities, like meditation and prayer, and the joy that arises from being part of a community and being with family and friends.”

Huynh’s work captures the preparation, enjoyment and spirituality of these rituals and traditions in 70 images: a solemn candlelit procession around the Russian Orthodox Church in Cabramatta during the Easter Midnight Mass, a family making banh chung (rice cakes) to eat during Vietnamese Lunar New Year festivities and the excitement at the Fairfield Showground during Eid ul-Fitr, the Festival of Breaking the Fast, which marks the end of Ramadan.

In Fairfield City, where more than half the community is born overseas in 133 countries, rituals and traditions play a particularly important role in creating a sense of identity and building a home away from home.

“The diverse, rich cultures, food, traditions, colour and strong sense of community are what make Fairfield City a photographer’s paradise and a really special place for me personally,” says Danny Huynh.

Danny Huynh completed a Bachelor of Design (Visual Communication), majoring in Photo Media at the University of Western Sydney in 2001. In 2006, Huynh was awarded the Western Sydney Artists' Fellowship from Arts NSW for his project A Sense of Place and since then, his photographic work has been exhibited at the Fairfield City Museum & Gallery.

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