On a poster, Phnom Penh glows dimly from afar. Flickering on the other side of the Mekong River, rows of buildings dissolve, blending with water and sky in the blue hour of twilight. This photo and a whisper are an invitation to stargaze the city glimmering in the distance.
The military coup in Myanmar on Feb 1, 2021, triggered an exodus of millions, with many fleeing to Thailand. "If Only It Is Seen, Thus, From Afar" is the first queer exhibition of emerging artists from the neighbouring country. Curated by Sid Kaung Sett Lin and Bodhisattva LGBTQ+ Gallery, it brings together eight lost stars -- Zicky Le, Zin Min Thike, Swannie, Roxy Owan, Na Torah, Min Chit Paing, Htet Aung Lwyn and Kyaw Min Htet.
Partly inspired by Yukio Mishima's Sun And Steel, a memoir of transformation of his own flesh, the exhibition delves into the fundamental question of queer homemaking. Straddling between their homeland and a foreign city, they are navigating emotional turmoil of reinventing themselves in a terrain that is familiar, yet strange. Resilience and hope are inseparable from pain and alienation.
Celluloid Demon by Htet Aung Lwyn. (Photo: Thana Boonlert)
In his prequel, Sid traced his curatorial inspiration, though fragmented, to his visit to Zin's home in a suburb of Bangkok. Slowly, the city is morphing from an adrenaline-rush getaway into a personal sanctum. He explained how they had taken root, dealing with visas, house contracts and job applications. In free time, they played a video game together, which is when this project came about.
"We want to talk about home, migration, displacement and how we try to survive here. After survival, we have a little time to reflect on ourselves. What do we want to do with life?," he said in an opening ceremony on June 7.
Hence, a collaboration came together with Patpong "Oat" Montien, founder of Bodhisattava LGBTQ+ Gallery and SAC Gallery. Oat noted how queer individuals are remaking home all the time, whether they be bodies, identities or places.
Zicky Le, a Myanmar-Karen photographer from Insein, Yangon. (Photo: Thana Boonlert)
"Some of them cannot be themselves in their own home. But in a new home, they find a community, a new sense of identity, a new sense of pride, a new dream. Hopefully, it is a reminder for us, during Pride Month, not only to celebrate but to elevate their voices," he said.
Scattered on a green wall is a visual diary titled Where I Was, Where I Am Going by Zicky Le, a Myanmar-Karen photographer from Insein, Yangon. Since his family sold their only home to support his relocation, he has documented his experience of life on the move. His photos, as well as letters and drawings, capture liminal moments, including the last sunset in Yangon, an encounter with a stranger and the glowing city.
"I want to memorialise this experience. For example, in the last photo, someone showed me around Phnom Penh during a visa run. I never saw the Mekong in my life. It made sense because the city is far from us, but it is still close enough to see the city's bright light. In Yangon, we don't have tall buildings. It was emotional at the time," he said.
Zicky's ongoing project is a memoir of his own reinvention. In Myanmar, he worked as a fashion photographer. He said queer individuals are limited to the entertainment industry. Bangkok, in contrast, is so big that "you can be whoever you are". Now settling in Talat Noi, he and his boyfriend have adopted cats into their family.
Sid Kaung Sett Lin, curator for the exhibition.
"I don't have a home, a flower vase or fame. This is the time to find myself again. I will catch up," he said.
The Wait by Min Chit Paing, a theatre artist and writer from Palaw, Tanintharyi, is a text-based installation that comprises four short stories produced in exile following the military coup. They are presented in the form of fragments across Burmese, English and Thai. In his work, reading, like writing, requires effort. It demands a lot of concentration in the age of doomscrolling. On the other hand, Celluloid Demon by Htet Aung Lwyn, a filmmaker, is a screen test of the fiend that challenges the expectation of Myanmar artists to always produce political works.
Meanwhile, Na Torah, a visual artist from Tachileik, Shan State, presents a video of ritual performance and a sculptural installation titled It Is I Giving Birth To Myself to reclaim power over the most personal sanctum -- the body. Growing up in a society where gender roles are rigidly defined in a hierarchical order, Torah confronted an existential question of why her father brought her into this world.
"I don't want to be a man or a woman or anything at all," said the artist.
In The Wait, reading, like writing, is an act of struggle to finish a story.
Torah's artistic practice is an act of queer liberation. The video of ritual bodypainting with organic sound is declaration of authorship. A genderless torso and the red face challenge the binary gender system. The red mask also unleashes raw emotion and energy. Unlike previous works, Torah renders rebirth as a final movement.
"I don't want to relive any more. I want to love this life, but in order to love this life, I want to give birth to myself again. This time me, not for my parents," said the artist.
Kyaw Min Htet, a multidisciplinary artist, presents a three-bodied installation of sexual encounter titled I Used Him As Much As He Uses Me. Forced to leave everything behind, he has lived in Chiang Mai alone for almost a year. Using Instax, film and digital cameras, he took blurred photos of those he hooked up with, mostly expats and tourists, to document queer intimacy that blooms fleetingly in exile.
"They don't know what is happening in Myanmar. It is heartbreaking because they see you as an object. This is how I navigate homesickness on a daily basis," he said. "In Myanmar, I have a family, friends and an art studio. But in Chiang Mai, I have little resources. I don't feel I am a real person."
Kyaw Min Htet's I Used Him As Much As He Uses Me. (Photo: Thana Boonlert)
As his work is a meditation on the cycle of desire, seeking warmth in the digital no man's land can offer only a temporary cure for a yet unreturnable home. He inches closer, but never arrives at it, finding himself trapped in limbo.
"If Only It Is Seen, Thus, From Afar" is running at the Front Room of SAC Gallery until Aug 9. It is open from 11am to 6pm, Tuesday to Saturday. Visit facebook.com/sacbangkok.
Roxy Owan's photo series titled Petal Of Being.
Na Torah's installation It Is I Giving Birth To Myself.
Oat Montien, founder of Bodhisattava LGBTQ+ Gallery. (Photo: Thana Boonlert)
