Curatorial Introduction
SEAQCF was born in a time of crisis. Our first edition, in 2021, emerged in the wake of the COVID-19
pandemic, when many queer people were isolated, separated from their communities and cultural circles,
fearful for their incomes and their lives. With this festival, we were able to bring a small degree of
comfort to our fellow Southeast Asians, bringing together queer artists from across the region in an online
celebration of creativity and resilience.
Now we’re back. Just like in our first edition, we began this year’s festival with an open call in
July–August, hoping once again to highlight the richness and diversity of queer experiences in Southeast
Asia. We were humbled by the overwhelming response, affirming SEAQCF’s role as an alternative space for
queer artists in the region to share their work and engage in meaningful conversations on a wide range of
issues.
This year, we prioritized broader regional representation, ensuring participation by at least one
artist from each Southeast Asian nation. While the selected works may not fully capture the region’s vast
cultural diversity, they lay the groundwork for building a queer arts and culture network and exploring how
art, culture, and design intersect with queer activism. SEAQCF celebrates the contributions of both emerging
and established artists, as well as community organizers, in creating this platform. Though space is
limited, we are committed to expanding the festival’s reach, centering diverse voices and artistic/cultural
practices, and fostering dialogue that reflects the wide-ranging experiences of queer individuals and
communities across the region.
For our festival theme, our SEAQCF team chose “ImagiNATIONS”, challenging artists to envision
Southeast
Asia through a queer lens and reimagine its identity, beyond geographical boundaries, as a connected
community with shared experiences. This theme explores the possibilities of redefining the region from the
perspectives of its queer communities, addressing the rising authoritarianism and shifting political
landscape. It raises urgent questions about how queer individuals navigate censorship, persecution,
state-sponsored discrimination, and inequality.
At its core, ImagiNATIONS looks to the future, imagining possibilities shaped by queer voices. It
emphasizes building networks of care, addressing intersectional issues, and integrating environmental
consciousness. The theme creates a platform to confront silenced narratives, transforming untold-traumatic
as well as personal experiences into empowering stories, and reimagining what a more inclusive and resilient
Southeast Asia might look like.
To guide visitors through more than 50 featured artists, we’ve categorized the works into four
broad
genres: Movies, Music & Performance, Visual Arts, and Writing & Zines. Each category showcases unique ways
of expressing queer voices, and provides a rough guide for audiences curious to explore how artists and
community organizers present their issues. This approach highlights shared themes and spaces, offering a
room for us to engage with how these topics are artistically reimagined.
Alongside the online exhibition, we’re celebrating the festival with community organizers from
across
Southeast Asia through diverse programs. To strengthen connections and foster a sustainable network, we’re
hosting a themed online roundtable, bringing together practitioners from different countries to discuss
challenges and explore ways to build stronger solidarity between queer art/cultural practitioners.
