In light of the current interest in global migration and displacement compelled by humanitarian crises worldwide, MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum is proud to present DIASPORA: Exit, Exile, Exodus of Southeast Asia, a group exhibition of contemporary art from Southeast Asia that considers the recent and ongoing movement of people within and away from the region since the outbreak of the Vietnam War, and its related aspects of migration, displacement, return, and hybridity.

Taking the artworks as a starting point in engaging with historical or autobiographical accounts of the diaspora experience, the exhibition also draws attention to the act of crossing the permeable, geopolitical borders that punctuate Southeast Asia. These are the borders that are repeatedly crossed, lawfully or illicitly, by a great number of people whose lives and identities may be configured by mobility and social exclusion.

Conceived as a platform to initiate dialogues on diaspora and movement through art, DIASPORA: Exit, Exile, Exodus of Southeast Asia specifically investigates three defining passages of dispersion, which are reflected in the title of the exhibition: to exit, or to leave the home country for personal reasons or economic improvement; to be exiled, as an individual or as a community, to be refused return for oftentimes political reasons; and to move in exodus, as a group of stateless and dispossessed people fleeing crises or war. Together, these migratory passages invite new ways of thinking about borders as an enduring cultural and geopolitical divide in a progressively borderless global society.

Exit, exile, and exodus are the cornerstones of investigation for the 18 established and emerging artists from the region, and beyond, who respond with compelling and thought-provoking works, both existing and newly commissioned, that stem from the artists’ and the Museum’s ongoing research and collaboration on the subject of displacement. Developed around the notion of ‘diaspora’ as methodological framework, the works not only reflect the artists’ impression of their own experiences of transitory life and resettlement, but also examine the migratory circumstances that have shaped Southeast Asia as a region of diverse ethnicities, religions, and languages.

Featuring diverse practices and methodologies, DIASPORA: Exit, Exile, Exodus of Southeast Asia seeks not to define, nor survey, “diasporic art”, but to be a conversation with the audience about the experience of diaspora that reveals itself in the artworks, by exploring the everyday significance of territorial and ideological borders, political and religious identity, and home and belonging.

DIASPORA: Exit, Exile, Exodus of Southeast Asia opens on March 3, 2018, with a series of panel discussions starting at 5 pm among artists Aditya Novali, Ryan Villamael, The Maw Naing and Nipan Oranniwesna (Panel 1); and Sawangwongse Yawnghwe, Svay Sareth and Abdul Abdullah (Panel 2) about their art practice in relation to issues of displacement and diaspora in Southeast Asia. The talks will be followed by the opening event at 7.30 pm.

In line with MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum’s dedication to research and education, there will be topic-specific seminars and film screening programmes throughout the exhibition. A catalogue published in conjunction with the exhibition, which includes specially commissioned essays by historians and subject-matter experts on topics related to migration, borders, and diasporas, will also be launched this spring complemented by a panel conversation with the writers.

DIASPORA: Exit, Exile, and Exodus of Southeast Asia runs through October 1, 2018.