Mural Creation on Migration with Myanmar Artist Chuu Wai
May 2 @ 10:30 am - 5:00 pm
Event Background
Chuu Wai, one of the most prominent contemporary woman artists from Myanmar, has returned to collaborated with SEA Junction once again. The Earth That Connects Us is a public mural project in Bangkok that explores the interconnectedness of migration and labour across borders and amplifies the essential contributions of workers across different, vital sectors. These workers are integral to sustaining both local communities and regional economies, yet their experiences often remain invisible. By placing these narratives in a public space, the mural raises awareness of the challenges faced by migrant workers while affirming their resilience, dignity, and indispensable role in shaping societies. The mural reflects how Thai and migrant people are not separate worlds, but neighbours linked through shared labour, culture, and ecology. It highlights how the same seas, rivers, forests, and air sustain both nations, reminding us that caring for nature also means caring for each other. This is a hopeful work — one that turns narratives of division into messages of interdependence and peace.
Centering the shared experiences of local residents and migrant workers, especially in fisheries and seafood processing, but also in other essential sectors, it turns difficult issues such as exploitation and unsafe conditions into calls for dignity and solidarity, while creating opportunities for connection and understanding. The oceans, vessels and nets will figure prominently as aesthetic motives that anchor the mural’s visual language and tie its themes together.
As part of the participatory design process, the artist seeks valuable inputs from people in the community. We will be hosting an ideation workshop, which will be divided into 2 sessions for artists and the general public. The two small workshops session with the artist will be held at SEA Junction on Saturday, 2nd May 2026 as follow:
Morning Session – 10.30 – 12.30 Thai, Burmese and Cambodian artists in Bangkok and anyone also who is interested in participating in the actual painting.
Afternoon Session – 15.00 – 17.00 for all interested in migration (including migrants and migrant organization) Thai activists and academics working on migration, and migrants working in Bangkok to again get insights into migrant lives and co-develop the mural design as well as to identify migrants interested in participating in the actual painting of the mural
The workshops will be in English, but opportunities for translation in Thai and Burmese are available.
The mural project is organized by SEA Junction in partnership with the Ship to Shore Rights South East Asia and ILO funded by the European Union.
The workshops are free. For more information, please email: info@seajunction.org or phone/wa: +66970024140
Organizers
SEA Junction, established under the Thai non-profit organization Foundation for Southeast Asia Studies (ForSEA), aims to foster understanding and appreciation of Southeast Asia in all its socio-cultural dimensions, from arts and lifestyles to economy and development. Conveniently located at Room 407-8 of the Bangkok Arts and Culture Center or BACC (across MBK, BTS National Stadium), SEA Junction facilitates public access to knowledge resources and exchanges among students, practitioners and Southeast Asia lovers. More information at http://seajunction.org/.
Ship to Shore Rights South East Asia is a multi-country, multi-annual initiative of the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN), implemented by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in collaboration with International Organization for Migration (IOM) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Its overriding objective is to promote regular and safe labour migration and decent work for all migrant workers in the fishing and seafood processing sectors in South East Asia. For more information, see https://shiptoshorerights.org/.
International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice through setting international labour standards. For more information, see https://www.ilo.org/.
