Millie Chen and Arzu Ozkal: SRS (Silk Road Songbook) in Buffalo.

The article focuses on the exhibition *SRS (Silk Road Songbook)* by Millie Chen and Arzu Ozkal, held at Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center in Buffalo, NY, which presents a de-orientalized artistic representation of the Silk Road through video performances of women singers and musicians from communities along the historic Eurasian trade route. The exhibit features five sequential video projections of performances in rural, non-specific landscapes, intentionally avoiding stereotypical or exoticized imagery to challenge Western constructions of the East. The songs, all performed by women, express themes of resistance, empowerment, and collective memory, addressing political oppression and cultural identity without explicit didactic explanation, encouraging viewers to engage with the work contemplatively. Accompanying the exhibition is a multilingual catalog that provides context, lyrics, and musical notation, further emphasizing the project’s aim to create an alternative vision of the Silk Road beyond Orientalist frameworks. [Extracted from the article]