Tan Bone
UNHEAR (2024)
makeshift tent, objects and recordings from refugee camps

UNHEAR is an installation of sound recordings and found objects made in collaboration with artists and activists of Chin, Kachin, and Rohingya ethnicity from refugee camps in India, Myanmar, and Bangladesh. The present-day states of Chin, Kachin, and Rakhine historically formed a crucial transit route between the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. In the nineteenth century, after three Anglo-Burmese wars, the region became a colony of the British Empire. Since the independence in 1948, tension between ethnic groups and the military has been nearly constant. The conflict, re-ignited by recent political developments in Myanmar, has produced millions of refugees, both internally and in neighbouring countries. The Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, which is the largest in the world, is inhabited mostly by Rohingya refugees from Rakhine state. Comprising a make-shift tent resembling those used for camps in and around Myanmar today, UNHEAR attempts to bring the daily soundscapes of these places closer to an audience in Europe by creating an emotional connection through listening.