This art we share

This art we share

Published on Thursday, 05 September 2013 10:28

Phatarawadee Phataranawik

The Nation

The creative minds of Asean seek out common ground in an exhibition at Silpakorn University in Thailand

In one photo a woman in Myanmar wears a mask - and the traditional costume of a man. In another, water fills bomb craters in Cambodia, creating picturesque ponds. This is "We=Me" an exhibition of art from Asean's member countries at the Silpakorn University Art Centre.

As Southeast Asia prepares for its trading bloc to blossom into the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015, Paramaporn Sirikulchayanont and Kritsada Duchsadeevanich of Silpakorn selected 15 artists representing all 10 nations, along with a "guest" artist from China.

The mission for ASEAN and the exhibition is to build bridges across border, financial for the former and cultural for the latter. The aim is to observe one another's differences, understand them and appreciate them. The photographs, installations, mixed-media works and paintings on view reflect issues on politics and social change.

Myanmar's Nge Lay expresses the desperation and stress she felt at losing her baby in a 2010 series of photographs called "The Relevancy of Restricted Things". She is pictured wearing a white mask, dressed up like her father, in traditional costume, surrounded by villagers.

"I was tortured by severe stress after losing my second baby in 2009," Nge Lay explains. "I lost my father in my early childhood, and that might be the reason I'm still hoping to have my own family. But I feel that the dream is fading away."

She says she feels like a prisoner trapped between her wage-earning job in a jewellery workshop and being as an artist. "I noticed how distinct the different restricted things in my everyday life had become.

"Unfortunately, my bad fortune goes on and on. A doctor's diagnosis in late 2009 deeply depressed me - he said there was a small tumour affecting the nerves at the edge of my brain. He wanted me to take a break from work, but I can't. I wonder why all these things keep happening to me, but then I also feel like 'the next me', with unidentified states of mind, is driving me forward with its instructions."

Nge Lay says she wants to spend her remaining days with her "dream family, close to nature - that's why I did this piece." In "The Relevancy of Restricted Things" she poses as the father in the village where her husband's family lives. "It's art, but it's also true about the other life I wish for."

Nge Lay's husband Aung Ko has his own photos on view, a series called "Bicycle Project 2008-2011". The delved into the changes in Myanmar society after noting how everyone rides motorcycles these days rather than bicycles. He collected hundreds of old bicycles and refashioned them, some with three wheels.

Cambodian Vandy Rattana's "The Bomb Ponds" photos from 2009 are landscape memories of America's blanket bombing of his homeland between 1964 and 1975 in an effort to block supplies to the North Vietnamese. He visited the 10 provinces most severely damaged and picked the memories of local people about the craters.

The nine images are quiet, mysteriously serene landscapes and accompanied by a documentary film in which the area residents tell what happened and what they do with the ponds today. The display is thus a showcase of fragility and resilience, both in terms of the people and the land. 

Thailand's Sutee Kunavichayanont projects a blackened map of his country on a bullet-ridden wall, which is viewed through the holes. "Longing for Siam, Inventing Thailand (Siamese/Thai Map)", made in 2011, underscores the paradox of a nation that can both expand and shrink. 

The exhibition earlier included a two-day symposium for curators and art directors from Southeast Asia and China sharing experiences. More such events are planned. 

BOX 

One week to go 

"We=Me: ASEAN Art Exhibition" continues through next Wednesday at the Silpakorn University Art Centre. 

Learn more at (02) 221 3841 or (02) 623 6115, extension 11418-9, or www.Facebook.com/WEMEproject.

http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/this-art-we-share-2/