The book builds on the traditions of documentary photography, but also move away from mere representations of suffering, into a more poetic space of affection.
Typological style portraits of people in their new domestic environments and documentary images of home environments both in Burma/Myanmar, on the Thai-Burma border, as well as within their new countries of settlement (such as Australia and the USA) are featured.

The sections within the book are bound in a way that allows the viewer to displace and replace certain moments or places. ‘Fold out’ posters move the viewer inside and out. The poster images combine projections images from the Thai-Burma border into resettled domestic environments to comment on the layered feelings of absence and presence that are experienced through transition and displacement.

At a time of increasing displacement and family upheaval, it is important we take notice of how difference is lived on the ground. ‘Permission to Remain’ explores the dualities that surround the idea of home: between presence & absence, permanence & impermanence and belonging & displacement.