Where the Heart Is: International Southeast Migration Stories
What is home to you? A place, a taste, a memory, a person – perhaps a dream? Can you remember the first time you left home?
This exhibition features the accounts of Southeast Asian women from a variety of backgrounds – migrant workers, students, business owners, and families. Gender shapes every stage of the migration experience from opportunities and resources to risks and vulnerabilities. Women are more mobile than ever, yet the experiences of female Southeast Asian migrants are often obscured. Our respondents vary in class experience and country of origin, but they all share in same the desire: to hold onto home.
This project was made possible by the Taiwan Nexus Grant, supporting a team of Brown students traveling to the United States, Taiwan, and Singapore exploring experiences of Southeast Asian migration. The narratives included here are only a fraction of this complex and multiplicitous experience, based on the powerful stories of individuals we met along the way. We thank them for their generosity and bravery, and we hope you will connect with their nuanced lived experiences of Home.
The exhibit is currently on display on the 5th floor of the Sciences Library at Brown University, and will remain installed until Fall 2019. We invite you to visit the exhibit space and experience Where the Heart Is: International Southeast Migration Stories.
Special thanks to Brilliant Time Bookstore, Caroline Frank, Chee Kang Nursing Home, Da-Yeh University, Han Cheung, Jasmine Lee Ching-Hui, J. Casey Hammond, Jennifer Nazareno, Miranda Van-Boswell, The National Museum of Taiwan History, Noah Choi, Pei-Chia Lan, Pinoy Lane Market, Robert Lee, Sabina Griffin, SEASI, Tee Kim Tong, Yvonne Lin, and all of our respondents.
Curated by Jasmine Chu, Ruby Thiagarajan, and Arthur Sun
Website created by Isabelle Belleza