Scott's “anarchist” history of Southeast Asia’s upland peoples highlights the dynamics of flight, as a defense against the rationalization and encompassment wrought by modern states. As a political geography, Zomia may be no more, yet that fugitive logic has survived its historical moment. Where might we look today for the modes of withdrawal, and the autonomy that distinguished these uplanders? What stake might artists have in such strategies of avoidance? The fugitive instinct is alive and well in Southeast Asian contemporary art. Teh considers what these lines of flight might tell us about the scope and the limits of artistic independence and autonomy.
Image: Jakrawal Nilthamrong, Film still from "Zero Gravity", 2012, HD video, color, sound, 20 min

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