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The Lexicon of Freedom re-stages a 1986 forgotten Disney film The Girl Who Spelled Freedom (dir. Simon Wincer) to complicate the nationalizing practice of American spelling bees as a cultural project shaping identity and language—explored through the lens of Cambodian diasporic subjectivity. The film is a dramatization of the true life of Linn Yann, a young Cambodian refugee girl, who, along with her family, receives sponsored immigration to the United States. Linn goes on to become a spelling bee champion shortly after.
This multimedia installation comprises a one-channel video with sound, artist books, and painterly interventions on English language learning guides and workbooks that unfurl onto a recreation of a spelling bee stage. A meditative response that seeks to unsettle childhood nostalgia, reflect on early cinematic representation of Asian migration in the aftermath of the Cold War, and question notions of freedom, power, citizenship, and exceptionalism.
03.04.2024–03.29.2024
សូមប្រកបអក្សរខ្មែរ
The Lexicon of Freedom
សូមប្រកបអក្សរខ្មែរ
The Lexicon of Freedom
The Lexicon of Freedom re-stages a 1986 forgotten Disney film The Girl Who Spelled Freedom (dir. Simon Wincer) to complicate the nationalizing practice of American spelling bees as a cultural project shaping identity and language—explored through the lens of Cambodian diasporic subjectivity. The film is a dramatization of the true life of Linn Yann, a young Cambodian refugee girl, who, along with her family, receives sponsored immigration to the United States. Linn goes on to become a spelling bee champion shortly after.
This multimedia installation comprises a one-channel video with sound, artist books, and painterly interventions on English language learning guides and workbooks that unfurl onto a recreation of a spelling bee stage. A meditative response that seeks to unsettle childhood nostalgia, reflect on early cinematic representation of Asian migration in the aftermath of the Cold War, and question notions of freedom, power, citizenship, and exceptionalism.
03.04.2024–03.29.2024
Video Excerpt (20:54 minutes) / Full Video Length: 50 minutes
Khmer language consultation for this video was provided by Hannah Phan, senior lecturer at Cornell Arts and Sciences.
Exhibition documentation
សូមប្រកបអក្សរខ្មែរ (The Lexicon of Freedom), 2024. Installation view, Freedom of Expression exhibition, Hartell Gallery at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, March 4 – 29, 2024. Photos by Hyunjin Park.
