40 Minutes: Connections and catharsis on the daily commute
Moon Rohaizan finds connection through portraits of fellow commuters. Plus, a hello to our new subscribers, and photo news and opportunities around the region.
A big welcome to everyone who’s just joined us 👋 It’s been a while since we’ve introduced ourselves to new subscribers, so we thought it might be nice to do a quick who-what-why for those of you who are new to our community.
Parallax Photo Journal began in 2023, and platforms documentary photography from in and around Southeast Asia. In addition to publishing stories from around the region, we also host community events. Our most recent were three round table discussions we had with photographers, photo editors, and photo contests organisers. A recap of these is coming soon!
Team Parallax is Tom White, Matthew Aslett, and Charlene Winfred. We’re all itinerant documentary photographers who call/have called Southeast Asia home.
We started Parallax because we found ourselves asking “what’s going on in Southeast Asian photography?” far too often. So we figured we’d look for answers, and share them with anyone else that might want to know, like you 😊More about us and what we do, here.
40 minutes | Moon Rohaizan
This month’s story has been a long time coming. We first started talking to Moon about her commuter series back in 2023, during our evening of conversation at Zontiga in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. So we’re very pleased to finally be publishing 40 minutes this month, a story about Moon’s journeys: to work, and through mental health.
Public conversations about mental health are gaining traction in Asia, catalysed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which highlighted the consequences of mental and emotional distress at scale. One of the many things we’ve learned across borders, cultures, and social strata, is that we can't keep our emotions neatly cubicled. Psychoanalyst Stephen Grosz writes in his book The Examined Life “When we cannot find a way of telling our story, our story tells us — we dream these stories, we develop symptoms, or we find ourselves acting in ways we don’t understand.”
We are — despite our best efforts — what we feel. Anguish in one facet of our lives affects all its other parts.
Anyone who’s worked in an antagonistic environment will relate to this story: the despair of feeling inadequate while everyone else seemingly moves ahead. How terribly lonely it is. And how any glimmer of connection is balm for the agony.
Moon imagined threads of connection through portraits on Kuala Lumpur's metro line. Who were all these people? Might they be struggling with demons of their own? Did they dream of a kinder world like she did?
What do you think?
If you’re in Germany, 40 minutes is being exhibited at Mitsuko Castle in April 2025, and at NordArt in June 2025. If you catch it, we’d love to hear about what you think! Drop us a line or ping us on Instagram
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Photo News
Duterte’s arrest
With Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest, many Filipino photographers have been sharing images and stories from the brutal, so-called drug war. If Instagram allowed us to curate lists and collections like some other social media sites, we’d have a link for you to that here. Instead, here’s a Time article where Local photographers on the frontline of Duterte’s drug war reflect on the images that moved them most
Myanmar earthquake
There’s no such thing as a natural disaster. The shallow depth of the 7.7 magnitude earthquake on March 28 had Mandalay at the epicentre and radiated out along the Sagaing fault that runs through Myanmar. Reuters has a visual explainer here: https://www.reuters.com/graphics/MYANMAR-QUAKE/gkvljjmwyvb/
In a country racked by war, this seismic event quickly became a disaster.
The NY Times features photos by Sai Aung Main (AFP), Aung Shine Oo (AP), Myo Kyaw Soe (Xinhua via AP) Sebastien Berger (AFP) and Lauren DeCicca (Getty) among the photos and videos in this gallery.
More coverage in the NYT from Sui-Lee Wee and Hannah Beech.
Lauren DeCicca photographed the collapsed building in Bangkok’s Chatuchak neighborhood on March 29, 2025 in Bangkok, Thailand for Getty. View on Instagram
Join Veejay Villafranca for an Artist Talk on Framed Truths at JCB Gallery in Manila. April 10, 2025, at 3:00 PM. Details and registration on Instagram
Getty Images shares a gallery of how Muslims around the world prepare for Eid Al-Fitr. View on Instagram
Gab Mejia, Aziziah Diah Aprilya and Geela Garcia are the recipients of the 7th Objectifs Documentary Award and their work is currently on show in Singapore until 18th May.
Two Mountains Project is exhibiting in Sabah Art Gallery, Kota Kinabalu from 12 April – 8 June 2025. Two Mountains is a ‘joint friendship’ photography project initiated by Steven Lee and Naoko Ohta, the directors of KLPA Events and KLEE, INC PARIS TOKYO, respectively in 2014. More info on their website, and make sure you follow them on Instagram.
Matca’s The Unofficial Archive: Printed Materials From Vietnam showcases a selection from their collection, including materials spanning photojournalism, art and commercial photography produced and circulated within Vietnam from the 1950s to the present. If you are in Vietnam, get your copy here. Hopefully available internationally soon!
Grants and opportunities
How do you get a funder to say yes? Amelia Ideh shares a vital tip in this IG Reel
Check out PH Museum’s April grant listing on Instagram
PhotoVogue Regional Open Call: East and Southeast Asian Panorama. Submissions open March 28 – June 25 - $8,000 total in grants for three outstanding artists - Global exposure in Vogue and PhotoVogue Festival. Details on Instagram
The PhotoVogue Global Open Call 2025 invites all women artists and individuals who identify with womanhood to submit works that explore the diverse ways women represent themselves and one another through photography and video. Details on their site