Hmong photography becomesart and exploration of identity

Arts&Entertainment ASIAN AMERICAN PRESS

Week of April 10 • 2009

The Movies UPTOWN THEATRE 2906 Hennepin Ave. Minneapolis 612-825-6128 April 10-16, 2009 SHALL WE KISS - NR 12:30-2:45-5:00-7:15-9:30 (Daily)

MIDNIGHT MOVIE Saturday, April 11, 2009 200 MOTELS - R

LAGOON THEATER 1320 Lagoon Ave. Minneapolis 612-825-6129 ADVENTURELAND - R 2:20-4:40-7:00-9:40 (Daily) No 7:00 Thu

GOMORRH - NR 2:10-5:10-8:15 (Daily)

MYSTERIES PITTSBURGH - R 2:40-5-7:30-10 (Daily) No 7:30 Wed

SERBIS - R 2:00-7:30

DUPLICITY - PG-13 4:20-9:30 (Daily - No shows Tues)

HANDEL’S MESSIAH - NR 2:00-7:30 (Tuesday Only) SUNSHINE CLEANING - R 2:30-4:50-7:20-9:50 (Daily)

EDINA CINEMA 3911 W. 50th St., Edina 651-649-4416 (hotline) SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE - R 2:30-5:30-8:15 (Daily) EVERLASTING MOMENTS - NR 2:00-5:00-7:45 (Daily) THE GREAT BUCK HOWARD-PG 2:20-4:40-7:00-9:15 (Daily) THE CLASS - PG-13 2:10-5:10-8:00 (Daily)

Hmong photography becomes The Wolf Totem art and exploration of identity

By Misha Jameson, Erica Rasmussen and Anthony Sauer The Metropolitan State University Third Floor Gallery presents, “Saib Kuv,” which translates to “Watch me”, or “See the Hmong in me.”

This exhibit features a collection of digitally manipulated photographic portraits coupled with poetry and prose by emerging Hmong-American artists. The show was organized by the local nonprofit, In Progress, which provides opportunities for marginalized young people to develop their skills as storytellers, artists and leaders through the use of digital media.

The works in the show are surprisingly sophisticated, considering that many of artists are still high school students.

Yeeleng Vue, 17, is a St. Paul Central High School senior and volunteers at In Progress. Yee, as he is called by friends, has one work on display in Saib Kuv: “Effectuate the Constellation,” a digitally manipulated photograph composed from three original images.

Ye e i s i n t e r e s t e d i n color combinations, and contrast. His work attempts to capture chance moments and then blend them into a thoughtfully composed image. Though the work on display is made of three

Reflections from Maniechan Xiong – saib Kuv (Watch Me) exhibit.

Beautiful Day by Mainou Vue in the saib Kuv (Watch Me) exhibit in the Metro State Library Gallery - St. Paul campus, April 16-July 24. separate exposures, Yee took over 75 photographs for this work alone.

“You never know what you’ll get,” said Yee, noting that the piece is meant to illustrate the bond he feels with the natural world, closer to trees and green places than to skyscrapers and sidewalks.

Yee’s interest in art was first inspired by a music i n s t r u c t o r. H e i s a l s o interested in music, rapping, mixing, and beat making.

Music and exposure to

Taiwanese soprano to perform in doctoral candidate recital The public is invited to enjoy a recital of Hsiao-Chien Chou, a doctoral candidate in Voice Performance in University of Minnesota School of Music. The performance will be held on April 15, 5:45 p.m. in the Lloyd Ultan Recital Hall, Ferguson Hall, University of Minnesota, 2106 - 4th Street S., Minneapolis.

Ms. Chou started her singing journey at a young age in 1990, by joining a choir in Taipei. Since then she has performed with the choir in Taiwan’s National Concert Hall and

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traveled to countries such as United States, Malaysia, Canada, Australia, and Singapore. She came to the United States in 1999 to pursue her degrees in voice performance. She received a master degree from University of Miami, where she won Honorable Mention in the University of Miami Co ncerto Competition and was awarded Provost Scholarship to attend a summer vocal program in Austria.

Ms. Chou is a winner of 2009 TAAMN Li-Huey Lai Memorial Scholarship.

Hsiao-Chien Chou, a doctoral candidate in Voice Performance in the U of M School of Music.

photographic works made by his friends pushed Yee into studying digital imaging. He plans to continue making art, and is now moving towards filmmaking and animation.

He recently completed his first animated work and likes that filmmaking combines all of the elements he likes in art, including music, images, and digital manipulation.

Yee feels that Saib Kuv is about giving young Hmong people a chance to share their vision for what Hmong leaders could be. He said there aren’t enough Hmong role-models for young people, and that he hopes this show will make their community more visible.

Another artist in the show, Kao Choua, started with In Progress as a volunteer and used the studio to make art for a summer. Kris Sorensen, the executive director at the time, gave her a Photoshop tutorial and she has been working independently ever since.

Kao said she started asking herself who she was at age 15, mainly because Hmong history was not taught in her school. She wanted to tell her parents’ stories.

“When I felt that my family’s stories were being lost, I started making videos,” Kao said. “I wanted to capture my family’s experiences through art,” said Kao. For the work in this exhibition, Kao said she use some of her parents’ old photographs to tell family stories.

“I had a plan, but also I’d go along with what came my way,” she added.

Building on her identity and finding commonalities are the aspects of art-making that Kao appreciates most, and she will continue making art in the future.

“I’m working on a film about Hmong women. People tend to categorize or stereotype them,” she said.

The project involves interviewing her mother, grandmother and niece.

“Through the video I’m trying to show them as individuals,” she added.

“Everyone’s different.”

Sai Thao began studying media arts in school at age 13 (18 years ago), and has worked with In Progress since 1995.

“I started in video then moved to photography, and fell in love with it,” said Thao.

When she began, photography meant film and darkroom work. Though she uses primarily digital

SAIB KUV

Continued on Page 9

This novel book, holds breaks new conferences ground in a n d the literature symposiums of China. on the topic, Ordinarily, and even has when one rip-offs of thinks of the book.

Chinese There are literary two editions tradition, written by one turns to authors who the Imperial have pirated p e r i o d o f A Book Review by the name and China from the theme 2 1 1 B . C . Richard Kagan, Ph.D. u n d e r t h e to 1911 title of “Wolf A.D. The Totem” part great writers and artists two. Film rights have been o f C h i n e s e t r a d i t i o n sold to “Lord of the Rings” overshadow any of the director Peter Jackson.

20th century creative It is successful, in works. Although they vary part, because its story in theme, they essentially line is totally absorbing glorify the Han Chinese – basically man vs. wolves, and their contributions and yet man dependent to the art of a great on wolves. The drama civilization. is the dual discussion of Jiang Rong’s Wolf Totem how the Han Chinese are is an epic psychological greatly prejudiced toward and political novel about the Mongols, and how the lives of the Mongols the government’s policies and their destruction by the result in the desertification Chinese state. The author’s o f M o n g o l i a – t h e main theme is the roles of subsequent destruction of nature in Mongolia – the the land, and the culture symbiotic relationships of the inhabitants. For among the wolves, the some Chinese, the book is gazelles, the marmots, the just a national geographic people, and the grasslands. type of narrative about The lynchpins of this wolves, their habitat, their ecological structure are the instincts, and their great wolves: “Without them strategic powers. here would have been no But, Jiang Rong makes it Genghis Khan, and no clear in a postscript that is Mongols.” . not included in the Penguin Jiang Rong portrays edition, that it is also a the life in Mongolia as a call for a strong response ceaseless battle. He creates to China’s exploitation of a fantastic description of Mongolia. The Penguin the wolves hunting and edition does not provide killing gazelles, sheep, full information on the horses, and even their own author. He wrote under kind. But this is not for a pseudonym. His real gore alone. The killing has name is Lu Jiamin. He was a strategy and a purpose arrested during the military all of its own. Without the response to Beijing’s wolves and their predatory Tiananmen protest on June ability there would be 4, 1989. no grasslands and no He was accused of Mongols being an “active counter Jiang Rong’s writing revolutionary.” He spent a is not only dramatic but year and a half in prison. He is historical as well. He knew he could not write recasts the history of the under his own name. It Mongols. He openly rejects was published in China in the Han Chinese view that 2004. But it was not until the nomads are barbarian, several years later that his backward, savage, and real identity was known. culturally inferior. Bilgee, This novel has attracted the major Mongol leader the attention of millions of and hero of his story, readers, and hundreds of often expresses the anger critics. It is a significant and criticism of the Han part of our global cultural Chinese. “But,” says experience. It can transport Bilgee,” you’ll never find the reader into an empathy that mentioned in books with the all the peoples written by the Chinese!” of the world who face The story line is semi- the extinction of their autobiographical. The ecological balance and author had been sent to the loss of their spiritual the countryside as a young identity. In many ways, man during the Cultural it extends its meaning to Revolution universal to herd problems sheep and and not live with the just to the Mongols issue of the in Inner loss of the Mongolia. grasslands The purpose as a way of this rural of life. experience Students was to of China, make him along with understand readers of the lives of modern the working culture, class and to should socialize read this t h e r u r a l Author: Jiang Rong book now. folk into the Before S o c i a l i s t Penguin, April 2008 even the system memories of Mao Tse-tung and of the past can no longer the Chinese Communist be understood.

Party. Instead, he became Richard Kagan, Ph.D. more socialized into the is a Professor Emeritus Mongolian system of of Hamline University in values and spirituality.

Saint Paul, Minnesota.

The book became an He served as East Asia instant success, selling Coordinator, and Chair of millions of copies in the History Department.

China, and being translated He has worked and traveled into more than two dozen extensively in Asia. He languages. In 2007, it won earned his doctoral degree the Man Asian Literary in Asian History from the Prize. Since then, it has University of Pennsylvania been acclaimed as a great in 1969. He is a consultant literary achievement. It is on trade with Access included in Wikipeida, and Asia, Inc. and has written one can read it on Kindle. extensively on East Asian There is a literary industry trade, history, politics and that writes about the human rights issues. n

ASIAN AMERICAN PRESS

PAGE 9 TIMOR

Continued from Page 2 believe they will not be held accountable for their crimes and victims often feel that they must take justice into their own hands. These attitudes contributed to the attacks on the President and Prime Minister early last year.

In Indonesia, impunity for past human rights crimes undermines the rule of law and democratic progress.

Instead of facing trial, key figures in East Timor ’s oppression are running for prominent political offices.

On April 6, 1999, hundreds of East Timorese and Indonesian militia, soldiers and police attacked several thousand internally displaced refugees taking shelter in the Catholic church in Liquica after slaughtering several civilians nearby the day before. According to a report commissioned by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the attack left up to 60 people dead, although the precise death toll is still unknown.

The refugees had sought shelter in the churchyard after fleeing earlier militia attacks.

Eyewitness accounts and subsequent investigations showed that members of the notorious police unit BRIMOB played an active role in the attack as did the Besi Merah Putih militia (BMP, Iron Rod for the Red-and-White).

Military units, including members of its special forces, Kopassus, were also involved. According to the OHCHR report, “Although the attack was carried out mainly by BMP militiamen, eyewitnesses have testified that TNI (including Kopassus) and Brimob troops backed up the miltias and fired their weapons during the attack.”

“The systematic disposal of corpses... [t]ogether with the substantial evidence of TNI [Indonesian military]

JEONG

Continued from Page 12 their New Year’s Eve Gala concert and appearances in their 2006-2007 season performing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. She has performed with many other orchestras throughout the United States including the Binghamton Philharmonic, Florida Philharmonic, R e a d i n g S y m p h o n y, Ridgefield Symphony, as well as the Charlotte Philharmonic Orchestra for which the Charlotte Observer stated Stephanie as “undoubtedly destined to be a star of the 21st century”.

Jeong has received prizes from numerous national and international competitions.

She was the first prizewinner of the Chicago Symphony O r c h e s t r a ’s F e i n b u r g Competition, a three-time winner of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Albert M. Greenfield Competition, the string division winner of the National YAMAHA Young Performing Artists competition, and this year’s winner of the Korean Concert Society Auditions.

In her summers, Jeong was the concerto competition winner at the Music Academy of the West and the Aspen Music Festival where she was also the winner of the Dorothy DeLay Fellowship.

Internationally, Jeong was a prizewinner at the Fourth Tchaikovsky International Yo u n g M u s i c i a n s ’ Competition and the gold medalist at the California International Young Artist Competition. Most recently Jeong was a top prizewinner at the Second Benjamin Britten International Violin Competition where she was awarded a special prize for her performance of Britten’s “Reveille”.

Recent highlights have included appearances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performing the

and Police involvement in the massacre itself, the presence of key officials at the scene of the crime, and the responsibility of those officials for creating and coordinating the BMP... makes it a virtual certainty that the Liquiça church massacre was planned by high-ranking TNI and civilian authorities,” the report added.

The assault on the refugees did not end on April 6. Less than two weeks later, more than a dozen survivors and others were murdered on April 17 at the house of Mario Carrascalão in Dili, East Timor’s capital.

These murders followed an officially-sponsored rally by militia. Those seeking to provide aid and comfort to survivors in Liquiça had their convoys attacked in subsequent months.

All of the security officials tried in Indonesia’s Ad Hoc Human Rights Court for their involvement in the massacre and other crimes were acquitted either at trial or on appeal, including p o l i c e c h i e f Ti m b u l Silaen, regional military commander General Adam Damiri and East Timor military commander Tono Suratman.

In November 2001, the UN-funded Serious Crimes Unit indicted nine Indonesian officers and 12 local militia for the massacre. The massacre was also cited in a wideranging indictment issued in 2003 by the UN-backed Serious Crimes process.

It accused senior officials, including General Wiranto, former Indonesian defense minister, who is now a candidate for Indonesian president, of responsibility for crimes against humanity in East Timor in 1999. All are currently residing in Indonesia. The Serious Crimes process in Dili convicted and jailed one militia member, who had been indicted separately of three murders, including one during the massacre.

Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and brutally occupied the territory until October 1999, with backing from the United States and other powers. The United Nations never formally recognized Indonesia’s claim, and as many as 200,000 East Timorese were killed as a result of the Indonesian occupation.

In 1999, Indonesia agreed to a UN-organized referendum on East Timor’s political status.

After the referendum, in which East Timorese people voted overwhelmingly for independence, Indonesian security forces and the militia they controlled laid waste to the territory, displacing three-quarters of the population, murdering more than 1400 civilians, and destroying more than 75% of the buildings and infrastructure.

Recently, the TimorLeste NGO Forum urged the international community to “now implement the UN’s repeated promises by allocating the necessary political, financial and legal resources to end impunity for these crimes against humanity.”

I n F e b r u a r y, representatives of 60 organizations signed a letter to the UN Security Council urging concrete action to ensure justice and accountability for crimes committed during the Indonesian occupation.

They decried “a double standard of justice, undermining the rule of law and respect for human rights in Timor-Leste, Indonesia and internationally.” They wrote “A decade has passed since Indonesia’s violent exit from Timor-Leste, and Indonesia has repeatedly demonstrated that it cannot or will not credibly try or extradite perpetrators of crimes connected with Indonesia’s occupation of Timor-Leste.”

For additional background on the Liquiça massacre visit www.etan.org. n

Elgar Violin Concerto and the Philadelphia Orchestra as featured soloist on their “Best of Tchaikovsky” series conducted by Rossen Milanov. Jeong made her debuts with the Kansas City Symphony performing Paganini Concerto No. 1 under Music Director Michael Stern and the Norwalk Symphony performing Mozart Concerto No. 4. This summer, she performed the Walton Violin Concerto with the Aspen Concert Orchestra alongside conductor James Gaffigan. Recent chamber music collaborations include performances with the Lenape Chamber Ensemble as well as concerts at the Kingston Chamber Music Festival with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Stephanie has collaborated in chamber music performances with such artists as Cho-Liang Lin, Wu Han, David Kim, and Peter Wiley. Recital appearances include a recital with pianist Hugh Sung at the Raymond F. Kravis Center in West Palm Beach, FL and The Kosciuszko Foundation in New York City as well as other venues through the United States in such cities as Chicago, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. This fall, Stephanie will be making her Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts recital debut in Washington, DC. Jeong began her studies in Chicago at the age of three with Betty Haag Kuhnke at the Betty Haag Academy of Performing Arts. As a member of the Academy’s Magical Strings of Youth, she performed as soloist at the White House, annually in concerts at Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, as well as performances throughout Asia.

In 1997, at the age of nine, Jeong was one of the youngest students ever accepted to the famed Curtis Institute in Philadelphia to study with renowned

violinist Aaron Rosand. She recently graduated from the Curtis Institute in the spring of 2007 with a Bachelor of Music degree and will continue her studies as a Masters student at the Juilliard School starting this fall under Cho-Liang Lin and Ronald Copes.

The Great Winter Festival, now in its twentieth season, is a series of classical concerts offered free to the public

by Jay Fishman and the Minnesota Sinfonia in some of the most beautiful venues in Minnesota. Everyone is encouraged to attend and enjoy the casual atmosphere and great music. Children are welcome. All events are free.

The Minnesota Sinfonia is perhaps the only professional orchestra in the country to give all of its concerts free of admission charges. Its mission is to serve all of the citizens of Minnesota.

Call 612-871-1701 or www.mnsinfonia.org. n

DAIM DUAB

Continued from Page 12 be in Kang Vang’s next film, supposedly a Hmong horror feature.

A fan of Mo-Town as well as Hmong-Chinese opera, Lee won a Harding High School talent competition, and won a spot on a Center for Hmong Arts and Talent compilation CD, “The HProject,” designed to bring awareness to the plight of the Hmong still living in the jungles of Laos and Thailand. She released her first rhythm and blues CD in 2008 with the ChaSha Music Group.

Purchase advance tickets from Shoua Yang at the Hmong Flea Market on Como Avenue, in the east building by the vegetables section. For information on show times call Mounds Theater at 651-772-2253 and visit online at www. moundstheatre.org. n

Week of April 10 • 2009

SAIB KUV

Continued from Page 11 media now, Thao still enjoys both traditional and digital photography.

“I like controlling and manipulating the image in either form,” she said, “both are part of the creative process, so I don’t really have a preference.”

Thao explained that the images in this collaborative describe a contemporary Hmong community and culture. They are a means of visual storytelling, with every aspect rich in metaphor and layers of meaning. The first several pieces display a modern view of the traditional culture where family, clan, class and regional identity are expressed through textiles and garments, especially the hats. “ We a r e r e c o g n i z e d through our clothing,” she said.

The show then transitions into the journey: the story of migration and how the culture evolved and is still evolving from traditional to transitional to modern lives.

The role of art-making in Thao’s life has changed over the years.

“At first it was selfexpression,” she said. “I learned who I am and then I learned about storytelling.

“I try to document my story and the story of my community, now, more than just self-expression,” she added. “The work at In Progress is about both of these things.”

Thao frequently used the first-person plural (us, we, our), rather than the singular (I or me) when talking about this show. She explained this as a cultural tendency.

A Hmong person identifies his or her self first as part of the community, rather than as an individual.

“Art has always been part of our life but we don’t see it as ‘art’,” she said. “It is

KOH

Continued from Page 12 law school medals, and more than 25 awards, including the 2003 Louis B. Sohn Award from the American Bar Association International Law Section and the 2003 Wolfgang Friedmann Award from Columbia Law School for this lifetime achievements in International Law. A prolific author, his book, The National Security Constitution: Sharing Power after the Iran-Contra Affair, won the American Political Science Association Award

Work from Maniechan Xiong in the saib Kuv (Watch Me) exhibit in the Metro State Library Gallery - St. Paul campus, April 16-July 24. part of day to day life, not a separate activity.

“For example, we sit there together sewing, or if someone sings, they sing while working together with others,” she added.

“Saib Kuv is a communal photography project; we worked together to capture ideas, worked together on many parts of the project.

It is very inspirational, very collaborative.”

Thao said this is what she enjoys most about digital photography as well.

“You can take any image, not just a photograph you have made, combine it with other images and recreate it so that it becomes something completely new,” she added.

The photographs in this show are actually another version of earlier works.

They started out as digitally manipulated photographs in a 30” x 40” format, which were then painted and 3D objects were added as collage. They were later rephotographed and reduced in size to conform to spatial constraints in galleries other than the studios at In Progress. When the show moves to the McKnight Foundation later this year, many of the original large works will replace these photographs of them.

Thao and another artist at In Progress will be working

in 1991 as the best book on the American Presidency.

“Dean Koh represents the best of our profession,” said NAPABA President Andrew T. Hahn, Sr. “Remembering the immigrant and refugee experiences of his own family and friends, he successfully has stood up for Haitian refugees and others who were not receiving justice through the law. Because of his high standards of legal skill and social conscience, he has won acclaim from lawyers across the political spectrum and all around the world.”

Dean Koh is a Korean

Work from Maniechan Xiong in the saib Kuv (Watch Me) exhibit. together on a cultural piece that deals with the traditional role of women in Hmong society.

“That image of women doesn’t exist anymore,” said Thao. “We’re just going to kill off all the women and make something new for ourselves,” she says with a laugh.

The exhibit opens with a reception on Thur, April 16, from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m., and continues through July 24. Gallery hours are MonThur, 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.; and Fri-Sat, 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The gallery is closed on Fridays during the summer months. The gallery is located in the Library and Learning Center, 645 East Seventh Street, Saint Paul. Call 651-7931631for information. n

American native of Boston and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard College and Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Arts degrees from OxfordUniversity, where he was a Marshall Scholar. He earned his law degree from HarvardUniversity, where he was Developments Editor of Harvard Law Review.

Dean Koh is also a former law clerk for Justice Harry A. Blackmun of the United States Supreme Court and Judge Malcolm Richard Wilkey of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. n