YOUNG TOURISTS FROM THE NEAR COUNTRIES (2006)

YOUNG TOURISTS FROM THE NEAR COUNTRIES (2006)
Video By Muhammad Akbar
00:04:13

This video is a reconstruction of my experience when having difficulties to find the differences among students from Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand, The Philippines in a welcoming party of Southeast Asian students exchange. It is not merely due to their physical resemblance, but also the way they dress up which did not clearly show any national resemblance, but also the way they dress up which did not clearly show any national identities, as they forllow a global trend of fashion such as making up their hair colour and wearing international brand t-shirts. What I could do is just asking each of them a same question: “Where do you come from?”. This work is an imagined trivia inspired by the current situation of culture in Southeast Asia. (Artist’s statement)

this video won the 1st grand prize of ASEAN New Media Art Competition 2007