Home is where you hang your art.

Artist Statement:

The Karenni, one of numerous distinct ethnic groups in what is today Burma/Myanmar, are descendants of people who migrated from the Mongolian plateau, more than 1,200 years ago. Prior to Burma’s creation as a country, upon independence from the British Empire after WWII, the Karenni and other groups were promised autonomous control of the regions that they had long occupied. These promises were thwarted when the Burmese military seized control of the entire newly-formed country. Discrimination (Burmese are ethnically and linguistically unrelated to the Karenni), compounded by successive Burmese governments’ designs on the Karenni land’s rich natural resources, have been the backdrop for decades of persecution and Burmese military onslaughts. In recurring waves of violence, Burmese soldiers attack and burn villages and towns, driving people into the forests. Several years ago, with a civilian government “allowed” by the Generals, a supposed truce was in place. Any lull in conflict was shattered after a military coup two years ago.

Over decades, people have fled east from Karenni State, into northwest Thailand where refugee camps were set up and operated by the United Nations. With no likely prospect of ever returning home –and limited chances of integration into Thai society– the only hope for people in the camps was the possibility to emigrate to other countries as refugees. Most Karenni who live in the United States came with that status: refugee. With struggle and violence still a way of life for Karenni inside Burma, and Thailand not accepting more refugees, people’s only escape is to leave the areas where their lives are threatened. Still within Burma, they become an IDP—an internally displaced person. Fleeing their homes for the same life-threatening reasons as “refugees”, IDPs don’t have the same legal, United Nations’, status. They are, truly, people without options. Still in the country of their persecutor, their only hope is attention and assistance from the outside world. Karenni who are here or in other countries, safe, must still worry about friends and relatives who are in danger, or living without prospects. Their gratefulness in being here is tempered by their awareness of who’s left behind.

In the midst of these stories of escape and loss, the Karenni are proud and have affection for their traditions and customs. Like any first-generation immigrants, the young people are less connected to their parents’ culture. It’s rewarding, then, when Karenni-American youth—artists, students, athletes, performers—make great effort to teach themselves and their even-younger siblings the values and practices of their elders...all the things that were left behind.