Art responds to Burma
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Art responds to Burma

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A vital aspect of contemporary art is that it often attempts to fulfill its aesthetic imperative while embodying a deep awareness of the world that gives it context. So as news continues to spread about the violent crackdown by Burma‘s junta against Buddhist monks, nuns, and civilians who peacefully demonstrated for democracy, it’s heartening to see a response from artists and curators.

Today, a group of 30 individuals with Asian roots wrote an open letter on Burma to express dismay, call for change, and put forth hope for a freer society where the kind of diversity of ideas vital to contemporary art can be available to all in Burma.

Will it help? Who knows. But I for one am grateful to these people — including Walker curator Doryun Chong, former Walker and REDCAT curators Eungie Joo and Clara Kim, Brave New Worlds artist Haegue Yang, Walker global advisory committee member and independent curator Hou Hanru, and many others — for having taken this step to be clear which side many of us, artists and audiences of all ethnicities and countries of origin, are on.

AN OPEN LETTER FOR BURMA

October 3, 2007

From people of Asian background in the arts:

We write to express our extreme dismay at the brutality of the military regime of Burma (Myanmar) against protesters who have been peacefully asking for change in that Asian nation. Led by Buddhist monks and nuns, tens of thousands of people have marched in Burma’s cities and towns in recent week. This has been an inspiring example of nonviolent resistance which has caught the attention of the entire world.

Unfortunately, the military dictatorship has chosen to meet this challenge not with negotiation, but with gunfire from automatic weapons. Monks and nuns have been viciously beaten and arrested, students and journalists shot in the street, and whole cities are now under a military reign of terror.

As citizens of the world, as artists valuing free expression, as people of Asian heritage, we write in support of the courageous Buddhist monks and nuns, and other people from all religions and walks of life in Burma, as they continue to seek peaceful change and national reconciliation.

We demand an immediate end to the violence against the protesters, and a release of all political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, dissident comedian Zarganar, and poet Bamaw

Nyo New.

We support the ongoing struggle of the people of Burma for basic human rights, and we admire their expressions of compassion for all humanity. As fellow humans, we stand with them.

Sincerely,

1. Maxine Hong Kingston

2. Linda Kim

3. Htein Lin

4. Amitav Ghosh

5. Khin Aye Than

6. Ruby Walters

7. Doryun Chong

8. Charmaine Craig

9. Huma Dar

10. Maya Lin

11. Tamara Chin

12. Bharat Venkat

13. Jerry Zee

14. Taro Shinoda

15. Mira Kamdar

16. Eungie Joo

17. Byron Kim

18. Pascal Khoo Thwe

19. Maryam Kashani

20. Kim Beom

21. Audrey Chan

22. Wei Hua Peng

23. Hou Hanru

24. Clara Kim

25. Kris Kuramitsu

26. Michael Ondaatje

27. Haegue Yang

28. Paisley Rekdal

29. Yiyun Li

30. Le Ly Hayslip

31. Gitanjali J. Hursh

32. Vasanthi Victor

Photo by Chaiwat Subprasom/REUETERS. A protester outside the Burmese embassy in Bangkok, holding a flyer showing the face of imprisoned opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on September 27, 2007.

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