RMA Institute presents "Nu Tong Gin Khao" A Photo Essay by Michael Sakamoto featuring Waewdao Sirisook
On exhibit June 9-15, 2016
Opening reception and performance by Sakamoto and Sirisook: Thursday, June 9 at 7 pm.

RMA Institute presents a photo exhibit on June 9-15, 2016 and opening reception and performance event on Thursday, June 9 at 7 pm. by photographer and dance theater artist Michael Sakamoto (USA) and traditional and contemporary northern Thai dancer Waewdao Sirisook (Thailand). 

"Nu Tong Gin Khao" is a photo essay by photographer and dance theater artist Michael Sakamoto in collaboration with northern Thai dancer Waewdao Sirisook. "Nu Tong Gin Khao" (in Lanna dialect, "rice field mouse eats rice") explores the changing face of Lanna culture through a local female character portrayed by Sirisook, wandering through the contemporary landscape of Northern Thailand. Juxtaposing a traditional, semi-rural, and absurdist spirit with modernizing streets and interior spaces of city and village life, Sakamoto and Sirisook attempt to capture a subjective cultural identity ambiguously navigating the chaos of historical transformation. (All works will be for sale.)

At the opening reception, Waewdao Sirisook will perform excerpts from her signature solo dance theater work, "Lanna Dream." Drawing on over 15 years experience as a traditional Thai dancer performing for domestic and international audiences, Sirisook engages the viewer with a gorgeous array of conventional female dancer images from the northern Thai Lanna region. Alternately entertaining, humorous, and highly personal, "Lanna Dream" challenges stereotypes and assumptions about self-exotification for the tourist gaze and the effect of global economy on local culture. 

Michael Sakamoto will also present excerpts from “blind spot,” a work-in-progress solo performance. Using Michael’s autobiographical narrative and visual metaphors from photography and cinema, “blind spot” addresses the intersection between intellectual property, corporate militarism and cultural identity.