Gold Mountain Dragon

Gold Mountain Dragon: Inheriting Silence, Reclaiming Belonging

Gold Mountain Dragon is a personal, humanist documentary project tracing my family’s origins in South China and the loss of cultural identity across generations in Australia. Through portraits and landscapes, the work responds to a forgotten family heritage, using immersion as a way of exploring a culture that has been partially lost.

Grounded in a social documentary approach, the project examines the vulnerability and resilience of Australian Chinese identity. It traces how identity is carried, suppressed, and reimagined over time, revealing both fragility and strength: the erosion of language and ritual through assimilation, and the enduring persistence of memory, family, and cultural practice despite exclusion.

At its core is my own family history. My great-grandfather migrated to Australia during the Gold Rush era, part of a wave of men who travelled from South China to what they called “Gold Mountain.” His life, like many others, unfolded within hardship, racial hostility, and systemic discrimination, later formalised through the White Australia Policy. These conditions fostered silence. Cultural knowledge was muted, stories were lost, and identity became partially obscured across generations.

This project extends beyond the personal. It reflects a broader Australian condition in which many carry fragmented or unspoken Chinese heritage shaped by migration, intermarriage, and historical silence. By photographing contemporary communities and ancestral landscapes in South China, the work seeks to bridge geographic, cultural, and emotional distances. The images become points of connection, tracing the ongoing negotiation of belonging while returning, in part, to what has been lost.

Village Elder, Guandong Province, China 2025

Urban Forest & Bicycles, Shenzhen, China 2025

Delivery Transport, Shenzhen, China 2025

Backyard Gravel Pile, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Girls in White Dresses, Guangdong Province, China 2025

China Kids, Guangdong Province, China 2000

Village Housing, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Public Table, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Slit between Homes, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Matty's Press Conference, Heping Country, Guangdong Province, China 2000

Park Bridge & Pagoda, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Butcher Shop, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Clothes Hanging, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Deliveries, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Wedding Onlookers II, Heping, Guangdong Province, China 2000

A Happy Life is Achieved Through Hard Work, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Satellite Dish, Guangdong Province, China 2025

The Runners, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Utilities Room, Shenzhen Library, Shenzhen, China 2025

Chat with Elder, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Market Vendor, Guangdong Province, China 2025

“Lotus Creek” Dragon Boat Practice, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Girl in Traditional Dress, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Wedding Onlookers, Heping Country, Guangdong Province, China 2000

Vegetable Garden, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Wandering Photographer, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Village Home, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Fishing in the Rain, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Proud Mother, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Rural Village Alleyway, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Dragon Head, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Community Notice Board, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Street Seamstress, Guangdong Province, China 2025

The Portrait Session, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Window & Lantern, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Lotus Creek Dragon Boat Athletes, Guangdong Province, China 2025

The Mannequin, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Cosplay Girls, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Dragon Boats, Guangdong Province, China 2025

School Run, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Old Fishing Village, Shenzhen, China 2025

House with Hair, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Street Repairs, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Hometown Hunan v Hometown Kentucky, Shenzhen, China 2025

Bucket on Wall, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Forge Ahead, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Modest Home, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Temple Caretaker, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Untitled, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Better Choice, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Mr Donothing, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Abandoned House, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Street Vendor, Guangdong Province, China 2025

River in Village, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Bus on Village Street, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Narrow Village Alleyway, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Backyard Sheds, Guangdong Province, China 2025

American Influence, Shenzhen, China 2025

Bottle Bell, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Backyard Shed, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Photowalk, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Dragon Boat Drum, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Temple with Incense, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Festival Preparation, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Labourer Mixing Mud, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Temple Wall Plague, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Morning Walk, Guangdong Province, China 2025

After the Rain, Guangdong Province, China 2025

Temple Maintenance, Guangdong Province, China 2025

金山龙

金山龙：继承沉默，重拾归属感

《金山龙》是一项个人化的人文主义纪录片项目，追溯我的家族在中国南方的起源，以及在澳大利亚几代人中文化认同的消逝。作品通过肖像和风景，回应一段被遗忘的家族传承，并以沉浸式体验的方式探索一种部分失落的文化。

该项目以社会纪录片的视角，审视了澳大利亚华人身份的脆弱性和韧性。它追溯了身份认同如何随着时间的推移而被承载、压制和重塑，揭示了其脆弱与坚韧并存的双重特质：语言和仪式在同化过程中逐渐消逝，而记忆、家庭和文化实践却在排斥中顽强延续。

该项目的核心是我自身的家族史。我的曾祖父在淘金热时期移民到澳大利亚，他是从中国南方前往他们称之为“金山”的淘金浪潮中的一员。和许多其他人一样，他的人生充满了艰辛、种族敌意和系统性的歧视，而这些歧视后来被“白澳政策”正式化。这些境况滋生了沉默。文化知识被压制，故事被遗忘，身份认同在几代人之间逐渐模糊不清。

这个项目超越了个人层面，反映了澳大利亚更广泛的社会现状：许多人承载着支离破碎或不为人知的中国传统，而这些传统又受到移民、通婚和历史沉默的影响。通过拍摄中国南方当代社区和祖居地，该项目旨在弥合地理、文化和情感上的距离。这些影像成为连接的纽带，记录着人们在不断协商归属感的过程中，在某种程度上回归到那些已经失去的东西。

Gold Mountain Dragon

金山龙

Glenn PORTER