Occhi Aperti – Symposium at CasArcobaleno, Scampia, Italy

Scampia is a neighbourhood near Naples that used to be Europe’s largest open air drug market. I was invited to participate in this year’s symposium, organised annually by an association called CasArcobaleno. Its literal translation means Rainbow House.

I’ve not seen anything quite like Scampia. So much chaos, pain and frustration yet in between all that, so much love and patience from the people who chose to dedicate their time to support the community. 

My heart goes out to the kids who’ve been hurt by adults, who didn’t receive the care or attention that they deserve, who have to grow up in this battle zone between police and camorra where cigarettes and drugs are the norm. During my stay at CasArcobaleno, I realised that this place is a safe haven for these children and teenagers who have no where else to go.

My impromptu painting workshop with the children and teenagers at CasArcobaleno.

I’ve been told that many of the children here don’t have dreams, which is why one of the workshops that Hugo and I designed was to get them to think a little about the possibilities out there. 

Exhibition at the subway station

The adults here are cynical about change, especially after all those years of drug war, strong presence of the mafias and deep corruption. But the hope is in the children and that’s also why this art symposium was prepared for the children and youths in the neighbourhood.

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Arts based social innovation

I organised and spoke at the event Arts based social innovation, targeted at social innovators and policy makers in the UK. Check out the article here.

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗚𝗥𝗘𝗘𝗡𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗦𝗘 𝗚𝗔𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝟮 with Artswok

What would socially engaged art processes look like in business, tech and the entrepreneurial space? What could sustainability be for socially engaged art practitioners?

Anchoring the session is socially engaged artist, Fié Neo. In her journey across UK, France, Canada and Singapore, Fié has graduated art school, worked in a non-profit organisation on European projects, established INSEP (International Network for Socially Engaged Practitioners), worked with the homeless and refugees, dabbled with social entrepreneurship. Currently exploring the possibility of socially engaged art as a service in different sectors to open up different income streams for practitioners. Fié will be sharing her multifarious experience and her arresting journey as an artist, which will be followed by a Q&A discussion.

The session will be on Zoom, but we’ll do our best to keep it warm and alive Bring your dinner and unwind with us after work!

Register by 7 Nov, 2359. Sign up here: https://www.eventbrite.sg/…/the-greenhouse-gathering-2…

The Greenhouse Sessions

Between Afghanistan and Singapore, 2021

Yesterday was the Afghanistan withdrawal deadline. The Americans have left the country. All other foreign country troops left over the weekend or on Friday. For many Afghans, this would mean the loss of a precious route out.

Between Afghanistan and Singapore, 2021, Fié Neo

Limits, 2021, Fié Neo

The Taliban is still hunting down journalists, activists, former local staff and their families. Some have already been killed over the past weeks. People want to leave and live.

This painting sums up how I’ve been feeling over the past weeks – trying to help some families there while physically being in a country of privilege and comfort. Life went on as per normal here, the news of Afghanistan just a tragedy worthy of maybe five minutes of attention for many people here. Over there it’s life and death, trauma and fear.

My midnights spent researching and writing emails to embassies received no response. Over there, it’s a privilege to have a passport, to be educated, to understand a different language, to have worked for international organisations. Many people don’t have that privilege and without that, not even a shot at making it to the evacuation list.

As of now, if you are on the Taliban’s black list, there’s no legal way out. In fact, for most Afghans there’s no way out that’s not dangerous or life threatening.

I’m writing this so that the Afghans left behind will not be forgotten. I’m writing this so that more of us will care enough to try and do something or influence our governments. I’m writing this so that precious lives won’t be forgotten and swept away as just another tragedy we cannot do anything about so we pretend nothing happened.

In Search of Hope

What hope can you find when everything is fucked?

This is a film project that charts my journey in search of hope during COVID-19.

At the end of February 2020, I left France after a year of learning with climate activists and civic groups, overwhelmed with pessimism and despair. I was prepared to quit the system and find an eco-village to spend the rest of my days before one big disaster wipes us all out.

Prior to that, I spent years researching systems change and regeneration (Theory U, Sacred Economy, post-capitalism, UBI etc), which led me to switch from fashion to socially engaged arts practice and then move from the UK to France (a year of work at an NGO). At the end of the year, I accepted our impending doom and genuinely believed that the only way forward out of this mess is if we all quit cities to live in eco-villages. 

I left for North America in search of innovative practices. It was my last bit of hope in finding something innovative that we can do in cities within this system. And then COVID hit. I ended up staying in Canada a lot longer than expected amidst a whole lot of uncertainty and flight cancellations. I volunteered at people’s homes, was almost homeless at points, worked on organic farms, learned about permaculture, regenerative and restorative agriculture, change networks, co-ops, social innovation networks and various change making initiatives. In July I started a podcast documenting all these interesting conversations with people I met. This is an experimental film with edited snippets of the podcast recordings along with my narrative of this journey. 

It is about this crazy journey during COVID-19, about my search for hope but more importantly, about all these change making initiatives and actions people are taking all over the world. This is a call for action, but also an offering of various responses to our collective search for hope. This film is meant to inspire, empower and rejuvenate all those who care and to collectively take action. 

Film Festivals:

Ecocine – Festival Internacional de Cinema Ambiental e Direitos [Offical Selection]

https://ecocine.eco.br

SEA X SEA: Southeast Asia X Seattle Film Festival [Offical Selection]

2021 Edition

Film International Storical & Short Film Festival [Offical Selection]

Zetimpuls Film Festival (Vienna, Austria)

The Lift-Off Sessions [Offical Selection]

Lift-Off Global Network

First-Time Filmmaker Sessions [Offical Selection]

Wayfinding

Commissioned short film for Social Innovation Exchange.

‘Wayfinding’ is a response to the sounds of chaos offered by participants of Tuning 1 during Covid-19 and reflects the journey of sense making as we find our way through this chaos. This short film was built upon the gifts of fellow artists in this residency as well as SIX’s JoSoKe in the form of audio recordings and video snippets of our lives across continents.

There were two wearable art pieces worn during the performance that weaved through the film. One was a piece I made entirely out of discarded zips and the other a headpiece made in 2015 as a critique of how everyone seemed to be cocooned in social media. I found that  ironic yet relevant now as it is a headpiece we cannot necessarily take off even if we want to. Both wearable art pieces become metaphorical representations of our internal and external struggles as we collectively way find towards hopeful futures. 

Below are links to videos of the wearable art pieces:
Emancipation (Zip piece)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaMZRccVPbA&list=PL5Sx3YtkLxpdmeeZllzoGh6MJVMrSqvDj&index=6
Our Future X Technology (Cocooned in Social Media) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHdyUF3Lzoo&list=PL5Sx3YtkLxpdmeeZllzoGh6MJVMrSqvDj&index=10 10