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     ABOUT

What Happens When We Pause is a photobook shaped by a period when life stopped feeling guaranteed.

After a car accident and two surgeries, time slowed down. Fear stopped being abstract and became physical. During recovery, I picked up a 35mm film camera and began photographing what was around me: ordinary streets, interiors, weathered buildings, small gestures, quiet routines. Not to document illness or recovery directly but to preserve the presence of life unfolding under uncertainty.

The work is restrained and observational. Meaning emerges through repetition, mood and accumulation rather than explanation. The sequence follows memory more than chronology, allowing connections to form quietly across people, places and light.

The project was set aside for years. When I returned to it, I distilled more than two thousand images down to 267, shaped by distance and the feeling of home becoming memory. This online exhibition offers a preview of the book for readers drawn to reflective visual narratives and film photography.

2023 Victorian Archives Centre melbourne exhibition
2026 leica malaysia exhibition merdeka

Exhibitions
My photographic work has been exhibited in Australia and Malaysia, including my first Australian exhibition, which toured the Public Record Office Victoria, Victorian Archives Centre and PMI Victorian History Library. In Malaysia, my work was selected for the Leica Merdeka 69 Exhibition at Leica Store Avenue K, presented as part of the 2026 Independence Day celebrations. These exhibitions mark a continuing exploration of place, memory and the quiet moments that shape how we see the world around us.

ABOUT

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CONTRIBUTORS

Cars Watches Others?
EST. 2015 | Melbourne, Australia | contact@thecwo.com
Online Magazine Copyright © 2025 founded by Shiang Liew

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