“Deviants.” From illicit drug users, sex workers, gamblers, cross-dressers, political rebels, to religious heretics. Those labelled “deviant” live on the margins – navigating a complex web of legal norms, moral codes, gender conventions, political authority, and cultural practices. Yet “deviance” isn’t inherent – society constructs it through power, shifting across time and place. 

What if the real outsider isn’t the “deviant,” but the judging society itself?
In what sociopolitical contexts has the “deviant” label been imposed?
How do the “deviants” shape their worldviews and knowledge?
Who enacts “de-deviance”—resisting the labelling system?
How does society react to such “de-deviance”? 
How do the “deviants” transform society?

This year, the Visual Documentary Project (VDP) invites short documentaries that problematise the label “deviant” in Southeast Asia. From those marginalised, criminalised, to those who pursue de-deviance through how they live, act, or speak. Let us visualize and reflect upon the societal boundaries shifting or being contested in this diverse and dynamic region.

Chika YAMADA
VDP2025 Chair