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As a child in Cambodia, Chanthu Millay suffered a severe injury to her left leg. Based on burn patterns, American doctors believed the injuries involved both a fire and a land mine.

One of the doctors who treated her helped arrange an emergency adoption by a couple in Surry. She grew up as one of 12 children from seven countries.

Today, the University of Maine graduate student uses art to explore that history. Her work includes a detailed self-portrait and a metal sculpture made from pieces of an old prosthetic leg.

She is now bringing together a dozen students and faculty members to explore their own experiences of violence through “Where the Lotus Fields Remember,” an exhibit she curated that invites connection without promising healing.

The exhibit will run Nov. 4-8 in Room 104 of the Innovative Media Research and Commercialization Center. An opening reception will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. Nov. 4, with light refreshments and an opportunity to meet the artists.

Millay, who is pursuing a master of fine arts in intermedia, is believed to be the only member of her family to have survived violence in her childhood village. Art has given her a way to examine that history. The exhibit extends that opportunity to others.

“While we may not always agree on how violence is defined, I believe it is one of the very few commonalities that is universal — that everybody experiences violence to some degree,” Millay said. “This exhibition allows everybody, no matter how they identify, to tell their story.”

A white lotus flower, a symbol of resilience and rebirth, appears in every work. The collection includes mixed-media sculptures, paintings, photographs and projections. Millay hopes the experiences they represent can become a point of connection without being treated as equal or interchangeable.

In Celena Powell’s lotus sculpture, the materials holding the flower together remain visible.

Powell, another student pursuing master of fine arts in intermedia, constructed her lotus sculpture from found materials. Each petal reflects her experiences of childhood emotional abuse and being moved among homes and caregivers.

Wire, thread and visible repairs hold the sculpture together. Layered transparency and directed light change what viewers can see from different positions. Its unsettled form echoes Powell’s repeated displacement, emphasizing the work required to hold the flower together rather than presenting a finished, healed bloom.

Powell, who also works as an office administrator for 91����’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center, chose to participate after working with Millay and seeing the value of collaborating with fellow artists.

“Chanthu is a thoughtful artist that is exploring her voice and how it folds into the collective community voice which seems like a natural progression for her work,” she said. “A space for collective grief is also a place for collective healing.”

In 2017, after tissue in her injured limb began to die, Millay underwent an amputation and learned to use a prosthetic leg.

Millay worked professionally as an artist before enrolling at 91����. Her studies introduced her to ceramics, sculpture and other ways to express her experiences.

Graduate school brought another transition as she learned to use computer software and lighting technology and explored collaborative and participatory art. Those approaches helped shape “Where the Lotus Fields Remember.”

Although her path through college and graduate school differed from what she expected, Millay said the experience strengthened her work.

“It expanded my horizons — not just in the tools I use to create art, but in how I approach art and I’ve seen my artwork only become stronger,” she said.

Millay hopes to expand the project through work with the Bangor community. She also plans to become a professor while maintaining her studio practice, helping students connect traditional art forms with the approaches she encountered in graduate school.

For this exhibit, she has made ceramic lotus tokens for visitors to take with them. Each features a QR code linking to 91���� self-help resources.

“This exhibition isn’t about promising healing from experiences of violence, because healing doesn’t always happen,” Millay said. “Instead, it asks us to investigate how violence manifests in our lives and how we, as individuals and as a community, respond to those experiences; I hope my audience feels a sense of wonderment and strikes up conversation with the artists to make meaningful connections.”

Story by Alexa Rose Perrocillo, student news writer. 

Contact: Marcus Wolf, 207.581.3721; marcus.wolf@maine.edu��