Since 2008 we have been conducting a number of interviews with protagonists, just to understand the local context and to be better informed in framing the project. Southeast Asia is a complex region culturally and linguistically, so it was a very natural choice to engage local researchers, writers, and curators in the project, to conduct local research and create archives.

Aviva Silverman’s work addresses being, belief, and togetherness. Votive forms, like dioramas and tableaux, are viewed through a contemporary queer lens, resulting in a dynamic study of conflicting histories of communion. The New York-based artist, who in the past has staged theatrical performances in which untrained dogs played characters from popular culture, has recently embedded Catholic and secular figurines in a series of sculptures questioning how difference and godliness are made in economies of novelty and scale.