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The inaugural Elevations Laos Exhibition, entitled Depths, opened on the 9 November 2018. The Exhibition coincided with and was inspired by the first-ever inclusion of artists who live and work in Laos in the Asia Pacific Triennial (9th) in Brisbane, Australia, namely: Tcheu Siong, Bounpaul Phothyzan, and Souliya Phoumivong. Depths draws from each artist’s interest in visualizing the unseen, whether from the dreamworld, layers and histories of the land, or the complexities of identity. Thus the exhibition’s three cross-referential chapters — Others, Lands, Selves — are rooted in the three APT artists’ practices, which grow in dialogue alongside their colleagues’ work in and from Southeast Asian and beyond. The exhibition closed on 16 February 2019.
It is common to use the word “others” to denote differences for people or things that fall outside the dominant subject. This first chapter of the exhibition embraces others as its subject, with the intention of highlighting relationships with and between material and conceptual practices that challenge conventions of their medium and often society’s dominant proscriptions. Another theme binding this chapter together are textiles – a core tradition across Laos uniquely expressing ethnic and cultural identity. Here, the medium is expanded in four surprising ways.
Our perceptions and relationship with nature are central to our histories, lived experiences, and futures. This chapter of the exhibition reflects on land – its physical elements; landscape – our shaping and re-shaping of the land for desired views and experiences; and land use – our consumption of natural resources. The four artists approach the subject uniquely through installation, photography, video, and painting.
Representational practices of self and others create a visuality that significantly shapes our beliefs and positions. In this chapter, five artists — working across media including painting, photography, sculpture, film, and video — explore identity as it relates to the individual and society, to one’s role in representing others, and to indigenous self-representation.
