Friday, March 20, 2026

We're Just Here for the Bad Guys: Brian Van Lau
Light Work Gallery

Light Work Gallery
316 Waverly Ave., Syracuse University, Syracuse

We're Just Here for the Bad Guys chronicles Brian Van Lau's relationship with his estranged father. Lau's father was absent during his childhood due to his incarceration. After his release, he rebuilt his life in Vietnam, remarried, and gradually disappeared from Lau's life. Nearly a decade later, Lau traveled to Vietnam following his father's sudden illness, and learned of his terminal cancer. During their final week together, they collaborated on a photographic project that documented his father's unsuccessful path toward recovery. After his father's passing, Lau returned to his hometown in Hawai'i seeking closure, uncovering hidden correspondence that revealed previously unknown parts of his father's life. Entrusted with dispersing his father's ashes across O'ahu, the artist began working with his grandparents to reconstruct this fragmented family history through photography.