Asia to Asia

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Last Sunday, I attended a Meeting Point organized under the aegis of Mekong Cultural Hub, a global organization that aims to empower diverse cultural practitioners to bring their visions for an inclusive, sustainable Mekong Region to life. The Meeting Point was organized by Singaporean Grace Hong in her home in Astoria, Queens, and in that relaxed setting it introduced to one another a group of 7 people—an art critic, two administrators, two film editors, a poet (me), and a friend. Grace herself writes on art and manages public communications for a gallery in the city. Between all of us, we had ties to Cambodia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Singapore, and the US.

I had visited Cambodia and Vietnam as a tourist not so long ago, but knew little about the contemporary arts around the Mekong, so the 4 short films shown to us were revelatory. In their different ways and locations, the artists in the films deployed their artistic practice for social change. Cambodian poet Phina So's protest poem "The Fire of the Villages Next to Mine" was made into a beautiful film by Burmese filmmaker THET Oo Maung. The second film highlighted the Isaan poet Molam Bank who is fighting for independence for his region in north Thailand through play-writing and singing. Laotian cultural practitioner Dorn Bouttasing lives with the community around the Ou River, whose livelihood is under threat due to dam building. Her photos exhibited in the film were accompanied by stories, memories, and thoughts told by the community itself. The final film showed 4 younger Burmese artists—Htein Lin, Zoncy, Khin Thet Htar Latt, and May Ko Naing—who were strongly involved in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) against the military coup.

All the cultural practitioners in the films give the lie to the supposed separation of great art from politics. Their work is not universal in a superficial sense, but is, rather, local, particular, and socially engaged; without trying to be obscure, it is not easily accessible to outsiders. They do not look to museums and collectors; instead, they fix their sights on mission and community. For all these reasons, they are immensely inspiring.

Jee Leong Koh
July 22, 2021

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