“If Only It Is Seen, Thus, From Afar” is a landmark group exhibition celebrating Pride Month at SAC Gallery.
For the first time in Thailand, the exhibition brings together eight emerging queer artists from Myanmar, offering a powerful reimagining of what “home” can mean through contemporary art.
At its heart, the exhibition amplifies the voices of queer communities from a neighbouring country, sharing stories of existence, hope and identities that refuse to be overlooked. Curated by Sid Kaung Sett Lin with Bodhisattva LGBTQ+ Gallery, the exhibition opens a space for reflection, resilience and quiet defiance through art.
It also marks the official launch of “Front Room”, SAC Gallery’s newest exhibition space at the roadside entrance of the four-storey building, which will serve as another venue for presenting experimental and challenging contemporary artworks.
“If Only It Is Seen, Thus, From Afar” represents an intersection of culture, emotion and identity, presented through the eyes of artists living between two worlds; the homeland they left behind and the city they are cautiously learning to love. Whether drawn by the pull of love, dreams of work or struggles for survival, their journeys are woven into meaningful artworks.
Zicky Le, Zin Min Thike, Swannie, Roxy Owan, Na Torah, Min Chit Paing, Htet Aung Lwyn, and Kyaw Min Htet live in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, yet traces of Myanmar resonate clearly in every breath of their individual works. They narrate through moving images, photography, sculpture and performance art that speak for the voices within.
Though many are just beginning their artistic journeys, their voices are clear and distinct. They are not here to present credentials from past professions, but to share something deeply personal, something they hope you’ll see, even if only from afar. This is art born from personal experience rather than commercial goals, an exhibition that doesn't merely invite viewing, but invites feeling the fragility, strength and courage to be oneself in a complex world.
“If Only It Is Seen, Thus, From Afar” is a journey through emotions and experiences that many might find familiar. Swannie’s voice in the video performance “Body On Repeat” welcomes you with Myanmar folk dance filled with memories and struggles with identity. As you venture deeper, you'll encounter the tenderness hidden within Roxy Owan’s fragility in “Petal Of Being”, which uses hair as a symbol of memory and transformation, or become enchanted by Zin Min Thike’s stunning sculpture “Kin”, which tells stories of identity through forms that blend human and "kinnari".
Zicky Le’s photographs titled “Where I Was, Where I Am Going” will take you to experience the feelings of migration not merely changing addresses, but searching for a new identity, whilst Kyaw Min Htet invites you to dive into a world of desire and power in “I Used Him As Much As He Uses Me”.
Na Torah presents sacred rituals in “It Is I Giving Birth To Myself”, challenging concepts of gender and self-rebirth, whilst Min Chit Paing’s “The Wait” will require your effort to read narratives that are fragmented and hide meanings, reflecting the difficulties of living in uncertain circumstances Don’t miss “Celluloid Demon” by Htet Aung Lwyn, which takes you into a world of satirical horror that questions society's expectations of marginalised artists.
The exhibition records the collision between familiarity and alienation through queer eyes that are sharp and full of emotion. From gender to identity, from leaving home to creating a new home, with fragments of incomplete memories and pressures of existence, “If Only It Is Seen, Thus, From Afar” invites you to sit quietly in this space of vulnerability, a space where someone’s heart still holds tightly to a wounded home, where whispers of the past still float in the air and where their spirits continue to dance lightly, delicately and beautifully, courageously allowing you to see... even from afar.
In this space, no one is alien, no one needs to explain themselves to anyone anymore. Here, pain, hope and new beginnings are a shared language we all understand, even though we come from different homes.
“If Only It Is Seen, Thus, From Afar” will be exhibited from June 7 to Aug 9 at Front Room, SAC Gallery. The opening is on June 7, where the artists and curators will be in attendence.
