National Gallery: Art Remembers

Because of the poor air quality, I decided to focus on indoor activities. So, I made my way to the National Gallery. The entire fourth floor, which houses Southeast Asian art, was closed to install new works, so that left only three main exhibitions open. The first I went to was a new exhibit titled "Art Remembers". It features art focused on forgotten, little known, or difficult histories. Issues related to identity and history are also explored in this exhibit.

Two pieces in this gallery really stood out for me:

The first was a series of photos of a hand covering images of people in a magazine. In 1904, 1,200 Filipinos were taken to the World's Fair in St Louis and displayed as a human zoo to showcase the US' newest colony. The artist took photos of the World's Fair magazine with her hand positioned over the people on display to give them the dignity they were denied.

The second display that resonated with me depicted various etchings related to the Secret War in Laos, including scenes from their infamous Lima Sites where Air America ran covert operations. When I visited Laos in 2017, I was dumbstruck to learn about the atrocities committed by the US military on a country that was officially neutral. On a side note, I am still kicking myself about not visiting Lima Site 6 in Vang Vieng while I was there. Back then, I noticed something on the map that looked like an abandoned landing strip, but I couldn't get to it as various structures blocked my way. It was only after I left Vang Vieng that I learned that it was a landing strip used by Air America for their covert activities.Read more