Filter Photo is pleased to present, Young Cash Karen, a solo exhibition of work by Thai-American artist Jade Thiraswas.

Young Cash Karen ​is an ongoing project about a close-​knit community of young refugees from Myanmar (or Burma) who have resettled in Rochester, New York. They are Karen (pronounced kuh-ren), an indigenous ethnic minority that has fought a decades ​long and still ongoing civil war against the Burmese military regime, the Tatmadaw, over the native lands of their people and for their very right to exist. The Tatmadaw systemically attacks Karen villages, killing and displacing hundreds of thousands of Karen people. For most or all of their lives, these young men ​lived in remote refugee camps across the Myanmar border in Thailand, until taking the leap to resettle in the United States during a now-ended program under the Obama administration. Some came with family members and some came alone. “Young Cash Karen” i​s the self​-chosen name of the brotherhood they have formed together. They proudly use the name to express a sense of belonging and solidarity amongst each other and with the global Karen refugee diaspora.

The project has developed into a multi​layered and nuanced exploration of the intersections of culture, ethnicity, and gender. It portrays a tribe of young men who are experiencing the difficult process of displacement and cultural adaptation. Yet despite their hardships they retain a sense of unapologetic pride of their identity and history. Both the subtle and apparent effects of globalization, assimilation to American society, and the preservation of parts of their endangered Southeast Asian culture create a compelling mixture of fashion, music, language, and lifestyle.

Jade Thiraswas​ is a Thai-American visual storyteller. She was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and raised between there and Southeast Asia. Her work celebrates the complexities of cultural identity, community, and representation while working against a history of colonialism, otherness, and patriarchy in the documentary photographic tradition. She often works collaboratively with her subjects, challenging notions of artistic authority and subjectivity. Her ongoing project Young Cash Karen follows a tight-knit community of young refugees from Myanmar who have resettled in Upstate New York.

Jade attended New Orleans Center for Creative Arts in high school, going on to earn her BFA in photography and art history at Memphis College of Art in 2015, and her MFA in photography & related media at Rochester Institute of Technology in 2018. Her work has been exhibited in spaces nationally and internationally. She is a member of Women Photograph, and has been selected to participate in the New York Times Portfolio Review, Angkor Photo Festival Workshops, Chico Hot Springs Portfolio Review, and was an artist in residence at The Center for Photography at Woodstock, New York.

This exhibition is partially sponsored by The Illinois Arts Council Agency.

Exhibition Dates: December 1st – January 20th, 2024
Gallery Reception: January 19th, 6 – 9 PM
Location: Filter Space | 1821 W Hubbard St, Suite 207
Gallery Hours: Monday – Saturday, 11 AM – 5 PM

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