2013
Mixed & Multimedia
7.5’x20’x3′
Colaborators: 12 Karen Refugee Youth, AjA Project, Karen Organization
Sights & Sounds of Transition (SST) is an interactive installation generated collaboratively between Brandie Maddalena, AjA Project, the Karen Organization of San Diego, and 12 Karen Refuge Youth of the San Diego neighborhood of City Heights, commissioned by AjA Project for their “Story +LINES” series and generously funded by the Irvine Foundation. By using the language of students’ photography through AjA Project’s refugee youth photography program lead by Andrew Rae and Marie Kofod Svensson, SST facilitated conversations between generations of Burmese refugees in dialogue about culture, identity, environment, and transformation. The resulting installation is comprised of five listening booths. Upon entering the booths participants become enveloped in the images taken by the Karen students. They put on headphones, press a button, and listen to the voices of the Karen refugee youth. Participants hear recollections of the students experiences of transition into their new homes in City Heights (one of the the USA’s fast growing international refugee communities) and leaving their homeland (most had been born into Thai refugee camps) through the lens of: culture, environment, school, song, and transitions.