Information

By Pim Jular, Serey Pagna and Mikaela Kvan

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We came to understand our urban transaction, in relationship to Born Again by local Bronx artist Nicolas Dumit Estevez, as a vehicle for a community to find their location identity through everyday art.

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The immigrant groups within the Bronx are extensive and collectively unique within greater New York City. Having chosen to focus on the Cambodian community, our transaction attempts to dissect and give voice to complex identity struggles and inter-generational turmoil within the community. To do this we created a sign, the same dimensions as an American stop sign, depicting a Cambodian Buddhist symbol. Bringing together both themes of immigration and religion from Estevez’s work, we pulled from our interviews with Cambodian community members to find a common, uniting element. The stop sign-shaped Buddhist symbol references dynamics in authoritative powers from both countries and aims to bring visibility to an immigrant community using a familiar cultural symbol.

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The short film, “Identity Transection”, documents this provocative, challenging art experiment. This three-minute video juxtaposes interviews with footage of our visual and sound installation. The installation consisted of each member of the team attaching signage to various street posts while wearing a fanny pack holding a speaker. This speaker plays an interview with the Cambodian temple’s monk wherein he speaks to the troubles his community faces.

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A series of diagrams, which explain our interpretation of Estevez’s work, the ecological dynamics of our chosen site and how these two influenced the urban transaction, provide a cohesive visual explanation of our project.

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The short film, “Identity Transection”, documents a provocative, challenging art experiment inspired by Bronx artist Nicolas Dumit Estevez’s exhibit Born Again. This three-minute video juxtaposes interviews with members of the Cambodian community in the Bronx with footage of a visual and sound installation performed as part of the Living Arts City Workshop NYC. The installation consisted of a three member team each attaching signage, depicting a Cambodian Buddhist symbol shaped like an American stop sign, to various street posts while wearing a fanny pack holding a speaker. This speaker plays an interview with the Cambodian temple’s monk wherein he speaks to the complex identity and inter-generational struggles his community faces.