Download Exhibition Overview

Troubling Borders:
Southeast Asian Women in the Diaspora
Jun 30, 2012 - Oct 7, 2012
Closing Reception: October 6, 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM, Free
Colloquium: October 7, 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM, Free
EXHIBITION OVERVIEW
Troubling Borders: Southeast Asian Women in the Diaspora showcases the writings and visual works by
women of Cambodian, Laotian, Filipino and Vietnamese descent, as well as women who identify as Mien,
Hmong and Cham. In the aftermath of the Cold War, many of these women reside in the U.S., Canada,
Europe, Australia, and parts of Asia. The exhibition will feature paintings, drawings, photographs, videos,
and sculptures by seven international, contemporary artists: Anida Yoeu Ali, Reanne Estrada, Lin+Lam, Ann
Phong, Nalyne Lunati, Hong-An Truong, and Julie Thi Underhill. The writers who will be reading include
Leakhena Leng, Karen Llagas and Julie Thi Underhill.
Forming an incredibly diverse group, these women writers and artists point to the ruptures caused by
colonization, war, globalization, and militarization. Their stories and artwork are vital and varied, and
together they provide a sharp contrast to normative narratives and ideologies that have been constructed in
the West and the nation-states of Southeast Asia.
Four years in the making, Troubling Borders: Southeast Asian Women in the Diaspora is edited by Isabelle
Thuy Pelaud, Lan Duong, Mariam B. Lam, Kathy Nguyen and forthcoming from the University of Washington
Press.
Troubling Borders: Southeast Asian Women in the Diaspora is organized by UCR Sweeney Art Gallery,
sponsored by the Chancellor's Strategic Investment Funds at UCR, co-sponsored by UCR's Department of
Media and Cultural Studies, and curated by Lan Duong, associate professor, Media & Cultural Studies
Department, University of California, Riverside, and Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, associate professor, Asian
American Studies, San Francisco State University.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Troubling Borders: Southeast Asian Women in the Diaspora is organized by UCR Sweeney Art Gallery,
sponsored by the Chancellor’s Strategic Investment Funds at UCR, co-sponsored by UCR’s Department of
Media and Cultural Studies, and curated by Lan Duong, associate professor, Media & Cultural Studies
Department, University of California, Riverside, and Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, associate professor, Asian
American Studies, San Francisco State University.
EVENTS
Closing Reception and Reading, Saturday, October 6, 6-9 PM, free admission
Readings by poets and writers from the anthology, Troubling Borders: Southeast Asian Women in the
Diaspora. Artists featured in the exhibition will be present.
Colloquium, Sunday, October 7, 1-3 PM, free admission
Artists, scholars and writers will discuss issues of community, craft and reception. Moderated by Lan Duong,
Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, and Mariam B. Lam.
EXHIBITION CHECKLIST
ANIDA YOEU ALI
Palimpsest for Generation 1.5
3-channel video installation of original performance & installation in December 2009
REANNE ESTRADA
II. One Thousand, One Hundred Eight, 1998
Hair on Ivory soap in shadowbox on terry cloth-covered pedestal
Tenuous, 2001-present
Polypropylene packing tape
General Tri-Corn, 2005
Ink on erasers
Keep It Together #1, 2008
Keep It Together #5, 2010
Color tape on puzzle
LIN + LAM
Unidentified Vietnam No. 18, 2008
16mm film, sound
30 minutes
NALYNE LUNATI
Kranok 1, 2006
Acrylic and silkscreen and watercolor paper
Vihara of the Mind, 2006
Organic handmade pigment on canvas on panel and gold leaf
ANN PHONG
Boats, 1998
Acrylic on canvas
An Advice, 2008
Mixed media on canvas
Box of Water, 2008
Acrylic on canvas
Box of Water #2, 2009
Acrylic on canvas
HONG-AN TROUNG
The Past is a Distant Colony
Explosions in the Sky (Điện Biên Phủ 1954)
Part I & IV of Adaptation Fever, 2007
Black & white digital video with sound
12 minutes
JULIE THI UNDERHILL
Grandma, 1999
Tra Cang Monastery, 1999
Boys’ Cave, 2001
Fear of Ambivalence, 2001
Gelatin silver prints