“… We are the new internationalists.” A CREED FOR INIVA by Jack Tan
Review, revise, reconsider, re-vision
Review, revise, reconsider, re-vision
Review, revise, reconsider, re-vision
We sing a rhapsody in art.
We are the new internationalists.
We have defied our otherness and entered the modern space that was forbidden to us.
We declare a historical claim and challenge the defining frameworks by putting our experiences, perspectives and bodies here and in sight.
We are minorities that represent world majorities.
Together we redraw, repaint, rebuild, remake.
Between Us and Them
Between the West and the Rest
Between North and South
Between Margin and Centre
Redraw, repaint, rebuild, remake
We are the migrants’ home: a clearing in the forest, a camp in the desert, an island in the sea. We are the migrants’ destination – from home to home.
We see them. We see us. We see you. We see.
How do we see ourselves in an era of globalising tendencies?
How do we fit in or fit out?
We are the work of a plurality of cultures and cultural backgrounds.
We are the practice of a plurality of cultures and cultural backgrounds.
We are the daily routine of a plurality of cultures and cultural backgrounds.
We are work.
We are practice.
We are daily routine.
We appear at those difficult moments when the imagination fails, and when the mind goes blank, dealing with ignorance by creating new knowledge and understanding.
We are the new internationalists.
(The words of this Creed have been derived from the documents in the Iniva library and archives, and written for the Rites and Rituals series, Nov 2014.)