The Centre for Southeast Asia Research at SPPGA is excited be co-organizing a community-based art exhibition with the Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability (IRES). “Stewarding Mae Nam Khong” will be on display at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum throughout Summer 2024.
About the Exhibition:
This Mekong community-based art exhibition honours the perseverance of life amid ecological destruction and cultural erasure. The exhibition was planned and curated by Rapichan (Ta) Phurisamban (PhD candidate, Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability).
In Lao and Thai languages, the river is mae [mother] nam [water]. Traditional lifeways and direct oppositions to large-scale development have always been entwined with the care and protection of our Mothers—the sources of life. In this reciprocity, biological and cultural diversity becomes possible. Understanding that living in tradition and living in resistance are expressions of the same mode of living is vital.
Beyond celebrating Mae-Nam Khong (Mekong) life, the exhibition blurs the lines between conservation, resistance, and traditional lifeways to engage the audience to reflect on different ways of living with rivers, and what “living well/ living in a good way” means.
The exhibition is accompanied by a recorded art presentation entitled “Building Decolonial Futures at the Confluence of Mae-Nam Khong and Salish Waters.” It features reflections by artsits and water protectors on Mae-Nam Khong artwork, global conservation policy, and their lived experiences of collaborating with Indigenous peoples.
Watch the accompanying presentation here.
