Dear Partners and Friends of SEA Junction,
SEA Junction’s trust in the power of arts and photography for social change continues this month with the 3rd and final exhibition of Chuu Wai and the new ground-breaking exhibition of photo stories by migrants in the fishing industry in Thailand. The message these stories (and the exhibition’s title) convey, is that migrants are more than just labor and more than the sum of the difficulties and exploitation endured. In challenging mainstream assumptions, the creativity alive in Southeast Asia can be perceived as a threat by those interested in keeping the status quo as explored in the discussion on the silencing of the arts in the region particularly at times of crisis.
Our consistent focus on the democratic struggle of Myanmar remains with the #WhatsHappeninginMyanmar Monthly Updates and a book discussion on non-state welfare, inequality, and resistance in Myanmar. Concerns about the growing authoritarianism in the region also extend to Indonesia as highlighted in the documentary “Dirty Vote” on the latest general election.
With regards to our special initiative, we signal the still open call for proposals under the small grants program, “Staying Resilient Amidst Multiple Crises in Southeast Asia” and we are pleased to announce that soon we will launch the cartoon and comics competition “Cartooning the ASEAN Way of Non-Interference and Consensus” in collaboration with Asia Justice and Rights to reflect on the role of ASEAN in addressing current and emerging challenges.
Best regards,
Lia Sciortino Sumaryono
Founder and Executive Director, SEA Junction
EVENT PROGRAM
Exhibition “Thread Under Threat: Portraits of Indomitable Myanmar Women”
5 April to 6 May 2024, 10 am – 8 pm, BACC pop•up, Gallery 1 at MMAD, 3rd floor, MunMun Srinakarin.
Well-known Myanmar artist Chuu Wai’s solo exhibition is born out of solidarity with the opposition movement in Myanmar that has been fighting for democracy since the coup d’état led by General Min Aung Hlaing on 1 February 2021. It resonates with the resilience of the people of Myanmar, especially the women among them.
This exhibition ends the tour in Thailand started on the anniversary of the coup in Bangkok on the curved wall, 4th floor of BACC and continued in Chiang Mai with the opening for International Women’s Day before concluding at MMAD a new art space at the Seacon Square mall with the hope that more people will admire the power of these women’s portraits.
See further: https://seajunction.org/event/exhibition-thread-under-threat-portraits-of-indomitable-myanmar-women/
Southeast Asia Mini Book and Craft Fair
11-12 May 2024, 11 am – 7 pm, SEA Junction, 4th floor, BACC
Once a month, SEA Junction holds a mini book and craft fair focusing on Southeast Asia. At the fair, we offer small crafts from the region along with many books, including new books from recognized publishers, second-hand books double to those in our library, and development-related books from outside the region that have been donated to SEA Junction. We have also a collection of books in French and in Italian. All funds raised at the fair contribute to SEA Junction’s functioning and activities.
See further: http://seajunction.
Photo Exhibition “Not Just Labor; Migrant Photo Voices from Thailand’s Fisheries”
Exhibition: 14-26 May 2024, on the Curved Wall, 4th floor, BACC
Opening Event: 14 May 2024, 5.30-7.00 pm, SEA Junction, 4th floor, BACC
The exhibition, organized and curated by SEA Junction with support of the International Labour Organization (ILO)’s Ship to Shore Rights South East Asia initiative funded by the European Union shows the often-overlooked side of the migration story, taking a peek at migrants’ lives beyond work. The migrants with their photos capture their day-to-day lives full of taxing, entertaining or simply mundane events, interaction with their natural and social surroundings, and dreams and expectations about the future. The message the photo voices (and the exhibition’s title) convey, is that migrants are more than just labor and more than the sum of the difficulties and exploitation endured. Moreover, the photos also show how migrants’ lives have become interconnected with the larger Thai society, demanding more suitable integration policies. Against the dehumanized portrayal of migrants as faceless ‘others’, this exhibition celebrates their identity, agency, personality, and other features of our shared humanity.
See further: http://seajunction.
Panel Discussion: Censorship of SEA Arts in Times of Crisis
18 May 2024, 5.30-7.00 pm, SEA Junction, Room 407-8, 4th floor, BACC
In peak moments of political change or crisis, there is often a corresponding increase in arts censorship. Arts and culture in Southeast Asia already face multiple challenges – the lack of resources, narrow public support, and an opaque legal and admirative landscape of practice. On top of this, across the region, arts and cultural workers regularly experience increased surveillance, censorship or pressure during periods of leadership challenges, economic turmoil or social unrest. Yet, these are moments when artists’ voices are most urgently needed. As Farida Shaheed has noted, artists bring “counter-discourses and potential counterweights to existing power centers.”
This panel to be held at SEA Junction on 18 April from 5.30-7.00 pm, will present cases from Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines, where artists and art-making are by default at the mercy of various normalized acts of censorship, yet are also particularly targeted at specific heated political moments in these contexts. It takes an exploratory tone, asking if there are observable patterns across these three countries. How do artists make in heat, and navigate these moments of high risk and precarity? Are there possible intersections across these cases that make space for possible solidarity and support among the arts sectors in the region?
See further: http://seajunction.org/event/censorship-of-sea-arts-in-times-of-crisis/
Book Launch: Outsourcing the Polity: Non-state Welfare, Inequality, and Resistance in Myanmar by Gerald Mccarthy
21 May, 05:30 – 07:00 pm at SEA-Junction, 4th floor, Bangkok Art & Culture Centre (BACC)
“Outsourcing the Polity; Non-State Welfare, Inequality and Resistance in Myanmar” offers a new account of social outsourcing and non-state social provisioning in post-independence Myanmar, with clear implications for understanding the post-coup context. The book, recently published by Cornell University Press, will be launched with a panel discussion that will explore the book in light of the extraordinary resilience of Myanmar’s revolutionary movement since the 2021 military coup and reflect on its relevance for a future New Myanmar. The panel comprises the author Gerard McCarthy and experts Sirada Khemanitthathai and Arkar Hein.
41th #WhatsHappeninginMyanmar Updates
28 May 2024, at 5-6 pm (BKK Time), on Zoom & FB Live
On 28 May 2024 at 5-6 pm (Bangkok Time), SEA Junction with media support by Mizzima and in partnership with AJAR will hold the 41st #WhatsHappeninginMyanmar Monthly Updates. This update series was started soon after the coup d’état in Myanmar with the aim of contributing to a greater understanding of the crisis situation there for informed action in support of the democratic movement in the country and beyond.
With media support from Mizzima and in partnership with AJAR, we will continue to host Toe Zaw Latt, a senior journalist from Myanmar, as a resource person. He will provide an analysis of the latest events in the preceding two weeks for about 20 minutes before the moderator, SEA Junction’s Founder and Director Rosalia Sciortino, opens the floor for questions and answers.
See further: http://seajunction.org/event/
Documentary Screening and Discussion: “Dirty Vote”
Wednesday 29th May 2024, 05:30 – 07:00 pm at SEA-Junction, 4th floor, Bangkok Art & Culture Centre (BACC)
On 29 May at 5.30-8 pm the Indonesian documentary Dirty Vote will be screened at SEA Junction. This documentary has been a controversial hit when it was released on YouTube few days before the Presidential Election held on 14 February 2024 in Indonesia and got 20 million viewers in the first two weeks. Directed by Dandhy Dwi Laksono the documentary features three Indonesian constitutional law experts, namely Bivitri Susanti, Feri Amsari, and Zainal Arifin Mochtar sharing their views and analysis on the upcoming election and particularly the unfair use of power to influence the vote. The three legal experts presented evidence to argue that systematic interference and misuse of State resources would affect the election results thus undermining the democratic order Indonesians had fought hard to achieve for the sake of defense of the status quo.
After the screening, there will be a discussion with the constitutional expert and one of the three speakers in the documentary Dirty Vote Feri Amsari and the writer and analyst Michael Vatikiotis.
See further: http://seajunction.
SPECIAL INITIATIVES
Call for proposals: Small Grants Program (Part 2) “Staying Resilient Amidst Multiple Crises in Southeast Asia”
In Southeast Asia as in other regions, the pandemic has exposed deep social and health inequities across countries and people and shown the multi-dimensional and interlinked aspects of marginalization. The precarious architecture of unbalanced systems – unconcerned with sustainable development, resilience, and equity – is tumbling down in a cascade of “synchronous failures” that disproportionately affect those on the margins of our societies. Among the many simultaneous critical issues about and beyond the pandemic are conflict situations foremost the military coup and its violent aftermath in Myanmar, environmental disasters, displacement and forced mobility, cyber scamming industry and human trafficking, gender exploitation and economic deprivation.
To strengthen resilience of marginal communities in Southeast Asia, SEA Junction will continue for three more years the small-grant program launched in 2020 with support from CMB Foundation and other individual and institutional donors. Initially with a focus on resilience amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the program is now expanded to cover multiple complex crises. Small grants for an average of USD 2,500 are to be awarded to efforts by groups and individuals to foster resilience amidst any or a combination of the interlocked crises such as health, political, socioeconomic and/or environmental crises. Preventive and preparedness initiatives will also be considered. Last year, we supported 26 projects from 7 Southeast Asia countries – Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia – and Bangladesh covering various themes including climate change, human rights violations, migration, nutrition, reproductive health, and education. This year, we welcome proposals that highlight crisis from different perspectives, encompassing human rights, climate change, education, health care, mobility, trafficking, development, economy, and democracy, among others.
See further on how to apply: http://seajunction.org/
Special Initiative “Cartooning the ASEAN Way of Non-Interference and Consensus”
Deadline of Submission: 15 June 2024
SEA Junction, in collaboration with Asia Justice and Rights (AJAR), invite cartoonists, comics creators, artists and arts collectives from countries in Southeast Asia to reflect on the future of the role of ASEAN in addressing current and emerging issues in the region.
The COVID-19 pandemic, the coup in Myanmar and autocratic changes in other member states, unresolved geo-political tensions and recessionary pressures have brought attention towards ASEAN, prompting crucial questions on whether it is fulfilling or failing to fulfil its role, and have put a spotlight on regional development and interaction.[1] With growing questions on whether ASEAN is indeed people-oriented as it claims in its Charter and “for whom” and whose interests ASEAN is acting, there is an urgency to promote public discussion on the so-called “ASEAN Way” and particularly on the two core institutional principles of “Consensus” and “Non-Interference”.
The here-announced competition “Cartooning the ASEAN Way of Non-Interference and Consensus” aims to enlist the creativity of cartoonists and comics creators to promote a critical understanding of ASEAN and its Consensus and Non-Interference principles. Cartoons and comics combine textual and visual elements to express ideas and create narratives to communicate ideas, balancing humour with seriousness. We trust that in this way they can draw attention to regional governance and trigger a conversation on steps needed in realizing a people-oriented ASEAN.
See more information: http://
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