BANGKOK POST | "Maritime Spirits": Southeast Asia Meets Venice

Bangkok Post, April 23, 2024
"The Bangkok Art Biennale (BAB) Foundation presents The Spirits of Maritime Crossing, a group exhibition by artists from Southeast Asia examining the themes of displacement, diaspora, and colonialism through the lens of the ocean curated by Prof. Dr. Apinan Poshyananda, Artistic Director of Bangkok Art Biennale. The exhibition is co-hosted by One Bangkok and is on view from 20th April to 24th November 2024 at Palazzo Smith Mangilli Valmarana, Venice, which has not been accessible to the public for 11 years." 
 
In the video The Sea is a Blue Memory, Dia attends to the journey of indentured labourers, a voyage many associated with fears of the loss of caste, sea-sickness and the miserable living conditions during the several weeks of journey. The ocean is recreated in CGI from different angles, in different moments of day and night, its glimmering surface or its hidden depths becoming a mesmerising object of contemplation. As viewers, we are compelled to look at this vast body of water more and more, again and again, as if we are collectively testing the possibility that the sea is a memory.