He had been flying to the Central Asian country for work, to train local rangers to protect snow leopards – the country’s national symbol – while Tabyldieva, who had been working in Dubai, was returning to Kyrgyzstan with her daughter.

The strangers – who are now husband and wife – were originally booked on different flights, but for various reasons had both amended their bookings, which resulted in their chance meeting when they sat next to each other on the four-hour flight.

They started chatting, although Tabyldieva laughs that, “He was a good listener, mostly I was talking”. Given she is fluent is five languages she wrote down some useful Kyrgyz phrases that he might find useful upon arrival in the country’s capital, Bishkek.

“I didn’t know about Tasmania,’’ she says.

“I had no idea where Tasmania was.’’

They exchanged numbers with plans to stay in touch.

“I said if you need any help or support around the country, just let me know,’’ Tabyldieva says.

“I felt responsible for him somehow, because he was in my country.’’

Tabyldieva sent her new friend a text, and started to worry when four or five days had passed and she hadn’t received a reply.

“I sent him a message to say ‘Are you OK?’ because he went to work in the mountains, in remote areas, where anything can happen,’’ she explains.

But it turned out he was fine – he just didn’t have any internet or phone service for a few days.

Romance blossomed and the couple married in Tasmania in 2023, after Tabyldieva and her daughter, Ainazik, arrived in Tasmania in 2022. Ainazik is now 13.

Tabyldieva is one of many Tasmanians sharing stories as part of a photography exhibition – 177 Nations of Tasmania – celebrating migrants and refugees and the wealth of countries they hail from.

The exhibition, at Henry Jones Art Hotel until March 7, was inspired by Census data showing that Tasmanians hail from 177 different nations. Tasmanian Mark Thomson started a podcast profiling people from each of these nations back in 2020, and has more recently partnered with photographer Andrew Wilson to create a photographic exhibition showcasing Tasmania’s cultural diversity.

Tabyldieva says many Tasmanians she meets have heard of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan but few have heard of neighbouring Kyrgyzstan.

But Tabyldieva, who lives at Dodges Ferry and is part of a weekly cold water swimming group, says Tasmanians have been very welcoming.

“The first reason I love Tasmania is my husband,’’ she says.

“The second reason that I love Tasmania is because of the people here.’’

Tabyldieva, now 36, has volunteered with the Australian Red Cross and the Multicultural Council of Tasmania.

She has also gained a Certificate III in disability support work and supports Tasmanians with disabilities, a job that she is “very happy to do” and she also works online as a travel agent, after gaining experience running travel agencies in Kyrgyzstan and Dubai.

She enjoyed the chance to dress in traditional costume while being photographed for the 177 Nations of Tasmania exhibition.

“Even though I live here, my identity since I was born is Kyrgyz, and I want to share some of my traditions and cultures,” she says.

“My daughter and I are the only Kyrgyz people living in Tasmania, so it’s a good opportunity to present my country and show that Kyrgyzstan exists.’’

ANDREW WILSON & MARK THOMSON

Photographer Andrew Wilson sat down for a coffee with podcaster Mark Thomson a couple of years ago when the idea for a photographic exhibition showcasing the 177 Nations of Tasmania was born.

Thomson, inspired by 2016 Census data showing that Tasmanians hail from 177 nations across the globe, was already well immersed in telling the fascinating stories of migrants and refugees through his 177 Nations of Tasmania podcast which he started in 2020.

And as the men chatted about the podcast, Wilson couldn’t help but think that the concept would be the great basis for a photography project.

So they decided to team up and are now showcasing their 177 Nations of Tasmania photography exhibition – which continues to evolve daily – with a visually spectacular closing night celebration planned for this Friday.

Supported by the City of Hobart through the Creative Hobart grants program, the exhibition is being updated each day, with Wilson setting up a makeshift studio at Henry Jones Art Hotel to photograph members of the community from diverse cultural backgrounds.

Some participants have already been featured in Thomson’s podcast, while others are new faces who haven’t publicly shared their stories before.

Wilson books each participant in for a photo shoot and allows an hour between bookings, which gives him time to make some quick edits to his images and print them on a high-quality A4 printer, with each image then being added to the exhibition.

Meanwhile Thomson puts together a written blurb about each of the participants and also includes a QR code to that participant’s audio interview, so visitors to the exhibition can enjoy an audio visual experience. He has done 113 interviews since starting his podcast 4½ years ago.

“In this podcast, we try to talk with one person from each nationality and find out about why they came to Tasmania,” Thomson says.

“Now we are inviting people to come down to our pop-up space and as each person is photographed, prints of their portraits along with some text and audio will be displayed in the gallery for the general public to view.

“It’s a celebration of the vibrant stories and small communities that go unnoticed.”

Many have worn traditional outfits to their photo shoot or have brought with them items of cultural significance from their homeland.

Wilson, who mostly works in commercial portraiture and is best known for his books Old Sea Dogs of Tasmania and Coast – Tasmania, expects to photograph more than 50 people during the 17-day exhibition. It will finish with a closing event, open to the wider public, which will be attended by many of the exhibition participants dressed in traditional costumes.

Wilson, 49, and Thomson, 51, are also hoping to turn their project into a book, bringing together stories and images in a publication capturing the growing diversity of Tasmania which – they hope – can be stocked in every public library and school library in Tasmania.

They recently kicked off a fundraising campaign through the Australian Cultural Fund and are hoping to raise $20,000 to bring the book to fruition.

Both raised in Tasmania, Wilson and Thomson say it has been fascinating to share the stories of Tasmanians who hail from such diverse backgrounds.

Thomson, who hails from English, Scottish and German ancestry, was born in Melbourne but came to Hobart with his family at a young age. He also spent some of his school years in England, due to his father’s work at the time and says “that was probably where my interest in people from other countries started, as the first school I went to was very cosmopolitan’’.

Meanwhile Wilson was born in Tasmania and has Scottish heritage.

Wilson says every story in the 177 Nations of Tasmania project is different, and although some stories feature refugees who fled to Tasmania to escape persecution and war, the stories are also about strength, resilience, love and inclusion and aim to leave people “feeling upbeat and proud to be Tasmanian”.

He hopes the exhibition will highlight the positive contribution migrants and refugees make to society, as well as promoting greater acceptance and understanding within the wider Tasmanian community.

DESMOND TUTU AYENTIMI

Ghana is a country rich in resources – it is the world’s ninth largest producer of gold and also produces a significant proportion of the world’s cocoa beans.

But despite such wealth, many of the developing country’s residents face high levels of poverty and unemployment and a lack of infrastructure.

Desmond Tutu Ayentimi grew up in a rural area of northern Ghana. And while he was fortunate to be able to go to school, he faced some challenging conditions, especially when he attended a school far from home in his secondary years, which had no power, a small open-air hostel without proper beds, and limited teachers.

But despite this, Ayentimi became the first student from his school to attend university.

He then secured a scholarship to study his PhD at Western Australia’s Curtin University in 2014, and three years later he moved to Tasmania, where Dr Ayentimi works as a senior lecturer at the University of Tasmania’s School of Business and Economics.

The 41-year-old – who lives at Rokeby and is married with three children aged 13, 5 and 3 – says Hobart is a wonderful place to live and work, especially for a young family.

He likes the small size of the city, the lack of traffic, the excellent air quality, and the easy access to nature, with the family regularly making day trips to explore various parts of Tasmania, including playgrounds, wildlife parks and waterfalls.

“It’s quite exciting living in an environment where you have that connection with the natural environment,’’ he says.

Ayentimi was given the first name Desmond by his parents, but he later officially added Tutu to his name, in honour of well-known human rights activist Desmond Tutu.

“Many people ask me if I am from South Africa because of my name Desmond Tutu,’’ Ayentimi explains.

“The name Tutu is a well-known name in Ghana because it is part of the name of one of the most prominent chiefs in Ghana, called Osei Tutu II. I was named Desmond by my parents, but funnily enough it was in secondary school my headmaster started calling me Desmond Tutu because he saw in me some personality resemblance with Desmond Tutu of South Africa. I later adopted the name officially.’’

He returns to Ghana every year or two to visit his extended family.

Ayentimi believes the 177 Nations of Tasmania project is a great way to share culture and celebrate diversity.

“I see it as an opportunity to demonstrate the state’s commitment to diversity, and an opportunity for people to know that we have people from different cultural backgrounds living in the community,’’ he says.

“We have to be able to appreciate each other. It’s quite exciting to be part of this project.’’

LONI KUBE

When Samoan-born Loni Kube moved to Tasmania in the early 90s, she remembers a distinct lack of cultural diversity.

“I remember, when I first came to Hobart, whenever I saw someone with brown skin, I’d get very excited,’’ the now 61-year-old recalls.

“I’d get nervous, and wonder if I should go and say hello. I felt very socially isolated but over time I managed to meet a few people who were Samoan … Tasmania was not very culturally diverse back then.’’

Kube left Samoa when she was 20, at the insistence of her parents, who believed she would have a better life – with more opportunities – abroad.

She initially headed to Christchurch in New Zealand, where one of her sisters was already living.

She worked in a men’s shoe factory while completing night courses in administration and accounting, before working for United Building Society (which later became United Bank) and also signed up as an army reservist.

Kube later moved to Australia, despite not knowing anyone, and settled in Sydney. She says although it was a “scary” time, she was keen to make the most of her opportunities.

“I like to be independent and explore, and I was determined,’’ she says.

And it was here, in 1990, that she ended up meeting her future husband, Peter, a Tasmanian who was in the army and was living in Sydney.

“When I met him, I didn’t know where Tasmania was, I didn’t even know it existed,’’ Kube admits.

They got married in 1991 and had planned to come to Tasmania for their honeymoon, but before they could do that, Peter was posted to Tasmania.

So they abandoned their honeymoon plans and moved here instead – that was early 1992 and they’ve been living in Tasmania since.

Kube loves the laid-back lifestyle – she was commuting for three hours a day in Sydney so appreciates the lack of traffic in Hobart and the fact that nothing is too far away.

She also appreciates the changing seasons, and the pristine environment.

She says while it was hard to farewell her family and her homeland as a young adult, she is ultimately pleased that her parents pushed her to leave Samoa.

“I am actually very glad,’’ Kube says.

“We have richness (in Samoa) in terms of the land, and the culture – and that’s the thing I do miss, the culture and the people – but life is hard in terms of resources and employment … it’s every parent’s dream for their children to have a better life and better opportunities.’’

She is one of nine children and returns regularly to visit her extended family who still live in Samoa.

Kube, who lives at Cambridge, has two adult daughters and three grandchildren.

She actually attended the University of Tasmania at the same time as both her daughters, to complete her social work degree as a mature-aged student, and has worked as a social worker for several years.

She completed her community services diploma at Tafe before that, and has also worked in the past as a family day carer and as a volunteer helping refugees settle in Tasmania.

She says there is still ignorance within the community at times, with some falsely believing that migrants and refugees are taking all the local jobs, so exhibitions like 177 Nations of Tasmania are important for helping people realise the positive contribution migrants and refugees make to the Tasmanian community.

“It’s a very rich Tasmanian community when it’s diverse and people are open and accepting of others,’’ she says.

“Because we do have a lot to contribute.’’•

The 177 Nations of Tasmania exhibition is open daily, from 9am-7pm, until March 7 at Henry Jones Art Hotel (but will be closed on March 1 and March 4). A closing night event, from 6pm-8pm this Friday, will be open to the wider public and will be attended by many of the exhibition participants wearing traditional costumes. For details visit facebook.com/177NationsOfTasmania. Donations supporting the 177 Nations of Tasmania book project can be made at australianculturalfund.org.au