Free Festival in Indianapolis this Saturday! Neighbors from Burma: Images & Stories from the Local Chin Community

The Southport Branch Library is hosting this free community festival
to celebrate the opening of the photo exhibit “Neighbors from Burma:
Voices and Stories from the Local Chin Community.” The free exhibit
will be open to the public through Monday, January 10, 2011 at the Southport Library. The exhibit features photos by IU graduate student
Anna Batcheller and collaborators from the Chin community.

The free festival will give the local community a chance to meet some
of the individuals featured in the photographs. The event will feature
free traditional Chin food and provide opportunities for attendees to
learn bamboo dance at 1 and 3 p.m. Children and adults can also try on
traditional Chin clothing, listen to Chin music, and hear Chin
folktales. The festival will be an entertaining and educational chance
to interact with neighbors from Burma living in the Indianapolis
community.

“Neighbors from Burma: Voices and Stories from the Local Chin
Community” tells the story of the Chin refugee community in
Indianapolis, of which even many near neighbors are unaware. “Most
people think the Chin people look like Mexicans,” says community
member Than Hre. He continues, “They talk to me in Spanish. I tell
them, “No Comprende.”

The project is supported by the Indianapolis Marion County Public
Library and Traditional Arts Indiana, which is a partnership between
the Indiana Arts Commission and Indiana University’s Department of
Folklore and Ethnomusicology, with funding from the National Endowment
for the Arts.

Saturday, November 6, 2010
1:00 – 4:00 pm
Southport Library
2630 E. Stop 11 Road
Indianapolis, IN 46227