Photo Exhibition “Not Just Labor; Migrant Photo Voices from Thailand’s Fisheries”
May 14 @ 11:00 am - May 26 @ 7:00 pm
Globally, trade in fish products continues to reach record highs, and developing countries now contribute over half of the value of total exports. Within this expanding world market, Thailand has emerged as a major supplier, with the value of its seafood exports reaching US$6 billion in recent years. A significant contribution to the industry’s growth is given by the migrant labour force. Shortages of Thai workers willing to work on fishing vessels, emerging simultaneously with expanding structural differences in population demographics and economic development between Thailand and its neighbouring countries, have transformed fishing crews to predominantly consist of migrant workers from Cambodia and Myanmar. Several hundred thousand women and men migrant workers are now employed at different levels within the seafood supply chain in Thailand, working precariously under various temporary labour migration regimes and constrained living and work conditions.
Recognizing the contribution of migrant workers to Thailand’s society and the blue economy, the exhibition “Not Just Labor; Migrant Photo Voices from Thailand Fisheries” gives them a platform to showcase their photo voices. Photos taken on their mobile phone by migrants from Cambodia and Myanmar, who are now living in Phuket, Chantaburi and Phang Nga to work in the fishing and seafood industry, will be on display from 14 to 26 May, 11AM to 7PM, at the Curved Wall, 4th floor of BACC.
At the opening on 14 May at 5.30-7 PM a panel will be held composed of the following moderator and speakers:
Speakers
- Benjamin Harkins, ILO Technical Adviser, Ship to Shore Rights Southeast Asia Initiative
- Sureeporn Punpuing, Associate Professor, Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University and Director Mahidol Migration Center (MMC) at IPSR
- Chit Htoo, Executive Director, Foundationfor Education and Development (FED)
- Sayan Chuenudomsavad, Photographer, Bangkok Tribune News
- Khin Hnint San, Language Facilitator, Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF)
Moderator
- Rosalia Sciortino, Associate Professor, Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University and Director SEA Junction
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 to migrants’ lives beyond work.
The migrants with their photos capture their overall day-to-day existences full of taxing, entertaining or simply mundane events, of interaction with their natural and social surroundings, and of 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 portray of migrants as faceless ‘other’, this exhibition celebrates their identity, agency, personality and other features of our shared humanity. This comprehensive appreciation of migrants’ experiences and aspirations, is essential to create an inclusive and more equitable society that uphold everyone’s human dignity (see further https://www.ohchr.org/en/migration/reframing-narratives-migration).
Bios Speakers and Moderator
Benjamin Harkins is ILO Technical Adviser for the Ship to Shore Rights South-East Asia programme and previously held a similar function for the Tripartite Action to Enhance the Contribution of Labour Migration to Growth and Development in ASEAN (TRIANGLE II project). Besides working with the ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, he worked within Southeast Asia on a broad range of social issues, including as Senior Program Manager for the Livelihoods and Food Security (LIFT) Fund in Myanmar, as Independent Evaluator for the International Organization for Migration, Senior Researcher for the Asian Research Center for Migration, Migration Programme Advisor for the Mekong Institute and Coordination Officer for Première Urgence Internationale. He holds a BA in Cultural Studies from the New College of California and a MA in International Development Studies from Chulalongkorn University.
Sureeporn Punpuing is an Associate Professor of the Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University. Her research focuses primarily on population-environment interactions and health and cross-border migration, migration and health. She used to work as a Population Affairs Officer at United Nations (Head quarter) in New York city, a consultant for ESCAP, IOM, ILO and WHO in Bangkok, and UNFPA in Mongolia and a former director of IPSR. She teaches advanced analysis of migration and human ecology to MA and PhD students. She holds a Bachelor degree in Statistics from Silpakorn University, Thailand; a certificate in Population Sciences from International Institute for Population Studies (IIPS), India; Master’s degree in Demography and a Ph.D in Resource and Environmental Sciences from the Australian National University. She now serves as an elected-Asia representative- council member of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP), Asia Population Association (APA) ‘s elected council member, President of the Thai Population Association and Director of the Mahidol Migration Center (MMC) at IPSR.
Htoo Chit, a migrant rights’ defender for the people of Myanmar in Thailand, is the founder of the Thailand-based Foundation for Education and Development (FED), also known as Grassroots Human Rights and Education (GHRE). FED aims to empower Burmese families in Myanmar and Thailand to achieve their basic rights by providing education, social services, and advocacy (see https://fedgrassroots.org/. After arriving in Thailand as a political exile in 1990, Htoo Chit spent several years as teacher in refugee camps and activist on the Thailand-Myanmar border. From 1996 to 2002 he served as the chairman of the Relief Committee for Southern Area (RCSA) before founding FED. For his many contributions, he has received various international awards.
Sayan Chuenudomsavad has been working as a photojournalist for several years, reporting and taking photos on any rising challenges of development, of the environment, and of any social changes which take place in the Mekong region. Diverse and vibrant, his images capture everyday people living alongside the challenges of development, climate change and social changes in the region. See https://sayanchuenudomsavad.wordpress.com/.
Khin Hnint San, works as language facilitator at the Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF). She has played a key role in this project by helping the curator reach out to migrants and communicate with them on the making of photostories.
Rosalia Sciortino Sumaryono is an associate professor at the Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University; Visiting Professor at the Master in International Development Studies (MAIDS), Chulalongkorn University; and Director of SEA Junction (seajunction.org). She has served as IDRC Regional Director for Southeast and East Asia (2010–2014), Senior Adviser to AusAID in Indonesia (2009–2010), and Regional Director for Southeast Asia of the Rockefeller Foundation (2000–2007). Rosalia Sciortino Sumaryono also served as a program officer at the Indonesia and Philippines offices of the Ford Foundation (1993–2000). She received her doctoral degree cum laude from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam and has published widely on development issues in Southeast Asia. In November 2017, she received a medal from the Vietnamese Association of Social Sciences for her contributing to social sciences in Vietnam (see further rosaliasciortino.com).
For more information, please email: info@seajunction.org or phone/wa: +66970024140
NB: The event is free, but donations are welcome to support SEA Junction activities.
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 Art and Culture Centre or BACC, SEA Junction facilitates public access to knowledge resources and exchanges among students, practitioners and Southeast Asia lovers. For more information, see www.seajunction.org, join the Facebook group:http://www.facebook.com/groups/1693058870976440/ and follow us on Twitter and Instagram @seajunction.
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. 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. More information, see https://www.ilo.org/.
