MAIIAM Chiang Mai exhibition explores interspecies alliances and counter-narratives across Global South

MAIIAM in Chiang Mai, Thailand, presented the group exhibition 'Living Another Future' from May 24 to June 3. Curated by Zoe Butt, the show featured eight works examining how narratives betray land and people across the Global South. Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn's two-channel video 'My Ailing Beliefs Can Cure Your Wretched Desires' (2017) features a deceased Javan rhino and a Yangtze giant softshell turtle discussing extinction, poaching, and interspecies revolution. Sammy Baloji's composite photographs 'Memory' (2006) and film 'Aequare: the Future that Never Was' (2023) critique Belgian colonial mining and agronomy in Congo. Khvay Samnang's bronze animal masks and two-channel film 'Preah Kunlong [The way of the spirit]' (2017–19) respond to a proposed hydropower dam threatening Cambodia's Areng Valley, depicting a Khmer dancer embodying animal spirits of the Chong minority. Ubatsat's painting 'Burmica' (2022) reimagines Picasso's 'Guernica' with over 70 images from Burmese history, including the 2021 Spring Revolution. Naiza Khan's photo series 'New Clothes for the Emperor I–VI' (2009) shows a hijab-clad woman struggling with corsets, while Dansoung Sungvornveshapan's 'Winged series' (2020) portrays Bangkok's homeless wearing wings. The exhibition included wall texts with responses from activists, artists, and academics, positioning the works as counter-spaces challenging hegemonic realities through interspecies networks, animal fables, and theatrical mapping.