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Conversation with photographer John Hulme on his work for “Beyond Tolerance”: Living Together with Migrants
15 October, 2016 @ 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm
“Beyond Tolerance”: Living Together with Migrants
Movements of people within and across borders have become an integral feature of regional integration in the Greater Mekong Sub-region or GMS, an emerging economic area encompassing the watershed of the Mekong River and comprising Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and two provinces of southern China —Yunnan and Guangxi. After years of relative in-country isolation, millions of people have moved from their place of origin to meet their basic needs and to achieve stability for themselves and their families. Estimates in Thailand put the number of migrants from Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar to more than 3 million, a majority of them in an undocumented and vulnerable status.
Since 2003 the main focus of migration policies in Thailand as well as other countries in the region has been to regularize migration flows. However, little attention has been given to how to integrate migrants into society, the expectation being that they will only stay temporarily in the receiving country, Reality, however differs with migrants building communities.
living for long period of times, often decades, marrying and having children in the destination country.
To devote attention to this neglected, yet crucial aspect of migration, the Mekong Migrant Network (MMN) in collaboration with SEA Junction will hold a photo exhibition on 8-16 October at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC). The photographs of documentary photographer, John Hulme, capture the aspirations and struggles of migrants in destination and home countries and are part of MMN ongoing project entitled ‘Beyond “Tolerance”: Living Together with Migrants’ supported by the Toyota Foundation.
The opening event will take place on 8 October at 3pm at Room 501 (5th fl), BACC. It includes migrants’ cultural performance as well as a public discussion on migration. A multimedia presentation highlighting the impact of social exclusion of migrants will be also launched at the event.
Selected photos and the multimedia presentation will later continue to be exhibited at at SEAJunction, Room 408 (4th fl), BACC until 16 October (full day).
The final event will take place one day earlier on 15 October at 5:30pm at SEAJunction, Room 408 (4th fl), BACC and will consist of a conversation with the photographer John Hulme on his art and techniques as well as the reasons of his engagement.
We hope that the event will help generate broader discussions on what needs to change so that we can go beyond ‘tolerance’, and rather embrace the presence of migrants in our societies and social, cultural and economic contribution they bring.
More details on these events will be posted on the SEA Junction and MMN homepages in the coming weeks.
Organizers:
Mekong Migration Network (MMN) a sub-regional network of civil society organisations working towards protection and promotion of migrants’ rights in the Mekong region (see http://www.mekongmigration.org)
SEA Junction, OUR venue to connect on Southeast Asia (see www.seajunction.org)
