Art & Market | Priyageetha Dia in 'Foreigners Among Us: A Review of ‘The Spirits of Maritime Crossing’'

"Beyond exploring points of contact between Southeast Asia and the West, Dr. Poshynanda’s exhibition further exposes the artificiality of the perception of foreignness by examining the experiences of ethnic minorities, migratory communities and otherwise marginalised groups who have been deemed so-called “foreigners” by modern-day Southeast Asian states. The exhibition thus nuances its thematic exploration by turning its focus inward, highlighting ongoing narratives of dispossession and oppression, as well as resilience and perseverance, that arise from within the region.

 

Two works stand out in jointly addressing contemporary issues of labour exploitation within Southeast Asia: the works of Singaporean artist Priyageetha Dia and Thai artist Kawita Vatanjyankur. Dia’s animated video ‘The Sea is a Blue Memory’ (2022) elegises the indentured workers who journeyed across the Indian Ocean to Malaya and Singapore, destined to work in rubber plantations under the colonial British administration. Dia’s research unsettles official narratives of Singapore and Malaysia as self-made nations, revealing the exploitation of migrant labour inextricably embedded in national histories. The work also evokes pertinent issues of migrant labour today: contemporary Southeast Asian cities remain heavily reliant on foreign workers for construction and domestic labour, with workers enduring insufficient pay and hazardous working conditions."

 

Work on view