burma: the quiet violence - political paintings by myint swe
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Text by Shireen Naziree
Burma:The Quiet Violence
Political Paintings by Myint Swe
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Burma:The Quiet ViolencePolitical Paintings by Myint Swe
Text by Shireen Naziree
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Published 2009 by
Thavibu Gallery Co., LtdSilom Galleria, Suite 308
919/1 Silom Road, Bangkok 10500, Thailand
Tel. 66 (0)2 266 5454, Fax. 66 (0)2 266 5455
Email. ino@thavibu.com, www.thavibu.com
Language Editor, James Pruess
Layout by Wanee Tipchindachaikul, Copydesk, Thailand
Copyright Thavibu GalleryAll rights reserved. No part o this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any orm or
by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing rom the publisher.
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Foreword 6
Burma: The Quiet Violence - Introduction 7
The Quiet Violence 9
My Outlook and Attitudes Towards Art and Lie by Myint Swe 18
PLATES: Paintings o Daw Aung San Suu Kyi 19
PLATES: Other Paintings 41
Myint Swes Biography 98
CONTENTS
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FOREWORDJrn MiddelborgThavibu Gallery
Thavibu Gallery is pleased to present the collection o political paintings, Burma: The Quiet Violence, by Myint
Swe. The collection eatures 38 paintings that reect the artists concerns about the detention o Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi and the discouraging socio-political environment in Burma. The paintings were executed in Rangoon
between 1997 and 2005 and secretly transported to Bangkok where they have been stored or some years.
However, due to the worsening situation in Burma, it has become necessary to remind a wider audience o
the atrocities o the military junta. And while the paintings o artists such as Myint Swe will not change the
political climate o Burma, we applaud his courage as he and other artists risk their lives and the uture o their
amilies by commenting on their countrys grave and tragic state.
Like many Burmese, Myint Swe is a committed Buddhist who lives by the principles o his aith. He abhors
corruption and deceit: The establishment regards me as a ool as according to the Burmese proverb: You are
our enemy because you do not agree to do according to our wishes.
I wish to express my sincere thanks to Shireen Naziree or writing this catalogue. She is an art historian andindependent curator with particular interest in Burmese contemporary art. Thanks also to Kt Twint Lwin Tuu
who has contributed various papers on Myint Swe. Burma: The Quiet Violence is dedicated to the memory o
Mr James, the late Australian- Burmese riend and mentor o Myint Swe.
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BURMA: The Quiet ViolenceShireen Naziree
INTRODUCTION
In Burma, the beginnings o painting in the Western tradition may be traced back to the late nineteenth
century when new styles, techniques and materials were introduced as a result o the inuences o British
colonial rule that brought about a greater access to and interest in Western artistic trends and cultural values.
Consequently, these trends quietly permeated the existing traditional Burmese painting practices o the period.
By then traditional temple wall paintings, executed with natural pigments and exclusively related to religious themes
that paid homage to the Lord Buddha, started reecting these new Western styles. The result was a diversity that
displayed new techniques and pictorial idioms that included secular environments associated with Buddhism. Artisans
were inusing new interests into the already rich and vibrant artistic practices that existed in earlier royal empires, which
had developed advanced artistic expressions in parallel to the rise o their political power rom as early as the second
century BC. While architecture, sculpture and painting had existed rom times immemorial, it was the depictions o
the Jatakas or the ables surrounding the Buddhas lie journey that became the pantheon that distinguished the
iconographic rules. The rich aesthetic that developed over the centuries since Buddhism was introduced into Burma
rom India in the sixth century enhanced the transcendental religious practices o Buddhism and was exclusively
consecrated or the beneft o the aithul as a means o expressing gratitude and piety to the Buddha.
Although the religious and philosophical ideas in the service o which the artistic tradition o Burma ourished are
not enough to go by in understanding the temperament o modern Burmese art, these ideas continue to remain
the background o Burmese symbolism. Equally signifcant are the artworks themselves, the results o the technical
skill o generations o unnamed artists, who oten worked in guilds under the guidance o court-appointed master
artists who brought their individual sensibilities to bear on their work. It is this essential humanism, persisting invarious artistic orms rom the long centuries o the past up to the present, which Burmese artists continue
to regard as a vital element or their art.
This new visual analysis o Burmese painting practices also led to a new way o perception that was available
only to artists who were either associated with the royal court or the British administration. Many young Burmese
interested in learning the Western type o rendering and drawing in perspectives continued to ollow the age-
old practice o apprenticing themselves in the studios o noted artists. The practice continued to evolve over the
decades and has since become an important tradition in the history o modern Burmese painting.
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Until the early twentieth century, the concept o fne art as distinct rom the other arts did not exist in the
minds o the makers o the earlier painting traditions. Modern Burmese painting had by now come into its own
and ound its intellectual place alongside other cultural discourses that distinguished Burma as the most cultivated
nation in Southeast Asia. Inuential movements and artist groups suraced in both Rangoon and Mandalay, catering
largely to the auent and intellectual middle classes. However, despite the thriving capitalism o the time that
created an interest in international art orms, traces o traditional aesthetics and attitudes continued to persist.
Today, while many artists o the modern era are content to ollow Western examples and try to create their own
individual approaches, they usually continue the tradition o studying under a master painter. It is still understood
that no matter how much a culture adopts certain technologies and liestyles, nevertheless deep cultural structures
remain as guiding orces in creating orms or in relating to the world. This understanding is not advocacy or a return
to the past but rather emphasizes a orm o cultural analysis in order to rediscover certain traditional sensibilities
or use in creating new artistic orms that will be meaningul.
Today, much o the evolution o Burmas contemporary painting tradition attests to the enduring spirit o many
individual artists talents. Although many o them may be downtrodden, yet they remain vigilant, exuberant
and undefled by all the difculties inicted on postcolonial Burma, in particular the oppression o more than orty
years o military rule.
Myint Swe is one such artist, or whom the suering that has arisen rom Burmas questionable political
environment has created the determination to address issues o humanity and dignity. Born in 1956 in Taungoke,
a small town in Burmas western Rakhine State, Myint Swe describes this locale as having an historical and culturalidentity that dates back to the second century, parallel only to the Pyu dynasty o the same era. The artist recalls
an untouched land, separated rom the rest o Burma by the long Yoma mountain range as well as the Irrawaddy
River, where Rakhinese achieved an intimacy with nature as armers and fshermen. However, Burmas military
dictatorship saw ft to triumph over nature in the name o progress when the region was opened up primarily
by road across the mountains and bridges across the Irrawaddy River.
Paradoxically, the improvements in transportation and communications brought about an unwelcome intrusion
by the military as amilies were indiscriminately stripped o their land and crops, pressured into orced labour and
becoming increasingly poorer.
Very much an individualist and socialist at heart, Myint Swe espouses many humanitarian causes particularly
because o his unswerving belies about lie, art and the rights o man. Despite working as a civil servant or a number
o years, Myint Swe was and remains frst o all an artist. Painting has always been his passion; all other media in
which he has worked have primarily been means to make a living.
When he decided to become a ull-time artist in the early 1990s, he realized that acceptance by the larger artistic
community required him to master or at least acknowledge earlier traditional models. Thus, as in the age-oldtradition o apprenticeship, to improve his artistic skills and learn frsthand the techniques o painting rom master
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artists who had the opportunity to study in Europe, he studied under several o Burmas most important senior
artists. Myint Swe believed that through painting he could achieve the power o utterance. The integration o art
and his social conscience would be the key to unlocking the door to his path in lie.
Myint Swe was coming into his own, while the political situation in Burma was deteriorating and the social and
economic rit between the military elite and the general population was growing dramatically.
Raised in the precarious situation o genteel poverty, he became extremely sympathetic to the less ortunate and
was especially devastated to realize the degradation o his ellow Rakhinese who were orced to move to the
urban environment o Rangoon. His deep understanding o Buddhist ethics was translated politically into socialism,
resulting in a undamental socialist philosophy to which he has adhered or most o his artistic career. As a result,
his creativity has evolved in the context o the current Burmese social environment with a need to address issues
o humanity and dignity, identity and equality. Myint Swe is understood to have digested the suering arising rom
a state o questionable governance that has seen his nation become increasingly isolated rom the rest o the world.
THE QUIET VIOLENCE
In the connection between politics and art, we generally assume that i the nature o politics changes, then arts
identity and narrative regarding the political also changes. In addition, where the content o radical discourse is
oten little more than an ascetic condemnation o contemporary industrial society, cultural practitioners questionthe cultural value o their particular discipline and how they may contribute to the political moment through
their art. At the same time, political activity is ever more ocused on new orms o organization, intervention and
communication that turn political activity into an increasingly cultural orm o spectacle.
While these critiques o ree association are purposeul and are situated in a time that is simultaneously present,
recently past and historical, generally applying to the vast majority o the global arena, Burmas modern art
practices remain grounded atmospherically in earlier, more romantic moments and oten in specifcally confgured
cultural spaces. Artists whose works ask questions o the nature o nationhood and are simulations o politics
and democracy, practice in a rightening state o siege; or Burmas defning temperament is hormonal -- perched
between the palpable loss o its past and an almost impossible understanding o its present, with the military
juntas heavy-handed political agenda that has resulted in a sadly impoverished social environment.
With the capital Rangoon as its most visible platorm and given the depth o its past cultural and economic history,
one is conronted by the countrys nakedness that orients itsel towards an environment that is void o any economic
or political instrumentality. What it succeeds in showing is an oppositional state o isolation, absence, discomort
and loss o identity. Most countries gained a new status when colonial dependencies were redefned as points
o cultural transmission and reraction due to the act that colonialism shadowed the most desired o dreams.In 1948 when it gained independence, Burma had already lost much o its prosperity as it had been severely
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impoverished by the destructive Japanese occupation during the Second World War. Ironically, the fght against
British imperialism was replaced by the new imperialism o an authoritarian policy that adopted an ideology posing
every conceivable threat to any democratic system used to basic human rights.
It is the hope o Burmas pro-democracy movements and the international community that new beginnings are
born in the not too distant uture, paving opportunities or an open political dynamic that would hopeully take
the beleaguered country out o its current repressive state. However, the military junta remains intent on holding
supreme power despite the universal outrage at its questionable human rights record, in particular the detention o
Aung San Suu Kyi the uniting icon o a ragmented opposition movement.
Despite continuous condemnation, the military junta remains resilient. When General Ne Win came to power
in 1962, he nationalized the economy, expelled thousands o ethnic Indians and by restricting oreign trade and
tourism isolated the country rom the outside world. Although he stepped down in 1988, he continued to wield
power through a succession o generals until General Than Shwe came to power in 2002 as a result o infghtingwithin the military regime. Today, ater orty-seven years in power and with a new capital in Naypidaw, built
in secret with Chinese expertise, it appears that the generals are very comortable with their state o isolation,
which highlights their indierence to the suerings o the people.
Co-operation by Burmas closest allies and trading partners, China and India, has emboldened the junta to
accumulate continuous and unimpeded power. Although both China and India share centuries-old cross-cultural
bonds with Burma, today the dominance o Chinas presence is omnipresent and expanding. Even scrutiny
by the Association o Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has done very little to stir the junta, let alone that by theUnited Nations. The decision by ASEAN to admit Burma into the association in 1997 was part o a broader plan
o expanding its territorial strength, primarily to promote economic co-operation amongst member states or the
realization o a ree trade area by 2015 that would also include China. India is scheduled to sign a similar pact
with ASEAN in October 2009, urther strengthening its ongoing border trade with Burma.
Despite the policy o nonintererence in the internal aairs o member states, the indiscriminate detention o
Burmas citizens (in particular, Aung San Suu Kyi) has prompted ASEAN to voice concern the most explicit
statements coming rom Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in 2003. Although there have been
sporadic threats o expulsion rom ASEAN, such an event is quite unlikely. While reugees have been pouring out
o Burma or a long time, ASEAN has remained indierent to the rights o these displaced people; it is known that
reugees have been inhumanely turned away rom the borders o Thailand and Malaysia.
The military junta remains unazed by any international threats. By releasing a ew political prisoners rom time
to time when international concerns mount, they use these detainees as pawns in the same manner that North
Korea uses its nuclear arsenal. However, unlike North Korea, the junta is not overtly dependent on international
assistance or ood and other aid. Their slow response and reluctance to accept any orm o assistance rom
the international community during any kind o emergency, such as in the atermath o Cyclone Nargis inMay 2008, reects the negative attitude the junta has towards its own people.
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ASEAN aces constant pressure to adopt a stronger voice towards Burma, but it is obviously not in the economic
interests o member states to adopt such measures. For example, the porous border o 2,400 kilometers between
Thailand and Burma is inhabited by common ethnic groups and the two countries share long-lasting historical
bonds. Trading activities along the border include a thriving black market, particularly in the lucrative gem trade,
drugs and human trafcking.
The booming economic growth o recent years in Southeast Asia has led to an increase in the trafcking o workers
rom Burma into Thailand and Malaysia. Currently, about 200,000 ethnic Rohinyas rom Rakhine State are languishing
in reugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh and working illegally in Thailand and Malaysia. The junta reuses to
acknowledge the Rohinyas as citizens o Burma, partly because o their Islamic aith and their South Asian roots.
Those who remain in Burma are subjected to some o the worst orms o apartheid, including the denial o Burmese
citizenship and restrictions on intermarriage with members o other groups and on movement within the country.
Bilateral trade between Burma and Singapore in 2008 amounted to US$2 billion. Singapore is also Burmas next
largest ASEAN trading partner ater Thailand. Human Rights Watch has cited investments in Burmas lucrative oil
and gas industry by companies rom Australia, China, India, France, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand,
the United States, Russia and the British Virgin Islands. Natural gas accounts or almost hal o Burmas exports.
The countrys export o gemstones, especially jade, to China and Southeast Asia remains very lucrative and has
prompted the United States to initiate sanctions on the import o Burmese gemstones.
Internally, calls or reconciliatory dialogue by the opposition National League or Democracy over the past ew years
have been ignored by the military junta, which has promised a general election in 2010 as part o the road map to
democracy. However, the junta leader, 76-year- old General Than Shwe, appears to have no intention o altering
the current political landscape, let alone allow or any democratic political transition. The deteriorating health o
the aging Aung San Suu Kyi is not encouraging either, while the juntas proposed new laws will bar her rom any
role in governance. These actors are aggravated by the juntas discomort with the mounting discontent and the
growing earlessness by ordinary citizens. In a recent interview, the Burma scholar and historian, Thant Myint-U,
is quoted as saying, The next year or so will be the most important. There is change within the armed orces
leadership. Critics say the new constitution and the elections planned or 2010 will not be democratic. But they
will represent at the very least a massive shake-up o the existing structures o the government.
The unprecedented move by the junta to allow international humanitarian aid or the victims o Cyclone Nargis
and the establishment o an ASEAN operational centre in Rangoon has the potential to bring about improvements
in at least that area o human rights. It is hoped that the proposed ASEAN Charter on Human Rights to be launched
by the end o 2009 will allow the organization to review its nonintererence policy in order to check human rights
abuses perpetrated by states on their citizens. At a recent symposium in Kuala Lumpur organized by the Malaysian
National Council o Women, Malaysias oreign minister Rais Yatim reiterated the importance or all ASEAN
members o continuing to pressure Burma to acknowledge human rights.
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What role can art play in these defning moments? Art and politics share the same medium o gesture, which in
an expanded sense encompasses the same physical maniestations through which people seek to conront each
other and to evoke desired responses, whether through the display o imagery or other orms o artistic expression.
Consequently, criticism helps to boost liberal attitudes and the overall view o society then becomes more inclusive.
Although the notion o political connectedness with art is not new in contemporary society, in Burma reedom
o expression is regarded as a orm o resistance.
Perormance art provides examples o the social unction o gesture. In Mandalay, the parodies by the Moustache
Brothers are dedicated to the reigning political pathos. In Rangoon, perormance art, mostly perormed in clandestine
locations, has become a popular medium o investigation into the social power o artistic gesture. A raw and
passionate anti-establishment sentiment has ignited civic and cultural activism as a select group o artists bravely
takes advantage o every available opportunity and the temporary nature o the expressionism o perormance art.
Censorship o the arts in Burma is exceptionally rigid though it has not completely disabled the potential orsocially explicit expression. Nevertheless, politically charged paintings are only ound in alternate venues, generally
outside Burma.
Myint Swes intimate works deal with the numerous social ills and the overarching devastation that lies beneath the
veneer o traditional archetypes. I am numbing mysel by not acknowledging that a signifcant part o my peoples
collective sel has died. I want to posit the misery and acknowledge what is happening in Burma and although my
works point to obvious issues, I also try to reach to the spiritual, to the infnitude o hope that is always available
in my creative core. My work is an attempt to portray the dimensions o the realities o our socio-political identity.
By exploring the currency o categories such as still lie, portraiture and landscape, each o Myint Swes paintings
is laden with symbolic baggage that exposes the quiet violence in the political ethos that has emerged and
the defance directed against the political choreography imposed by the military junta.
Within these territories o confnement the detention o Aung San Suu Kyi has become an axis that illuminates
the ideological strength o the democracy movement. The painting Waiting or the Last Station (p. 21), with its
treatment o broken brushstrokes, is an example o this disparate situation. It also reects the relationship between
Aung San Suu Kyi and the yearning or the end o an era o containment. The translucency that permeates the
painting becomes in itsel a meditative exercise.
The language o art with its vast and subtle vocabulary and complex syntax can give an insightul expression to
nuanced emotions. The Lotus Beauty (p. 23) is an example where Myint Swe plumbs the depths o his Buddhist
understandings or communication; or the lotus ower is symbolically a ower associated with worship, endurance
and beauty. Similarly, in The Enduring Water Hyacinth (p. 25), Myint Swe does not allow his creative instincts to evade
the ties to his Buddhist belies. The perception o Aung San Suu Kyis intellectual strength and endeavour has been
the inspiration or this and many o his other paintings, conveying messages under her highly noble motives.
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The Rose (1) (p. 27) is another classical idiom where the owers individuality and rhythm represent the truth
that imparts polish to human understanding. Myint Swe is unaraid o using classical idioms, a philosophy that
he believes is a torchbearer o the intellect and enlightenment o his Eastern values.
Although he trained under some o Burmas most inuential painters, Myint Swes technique, colour combinations
and sense o structure are all his own. He has spent years in giving them a maturity in individuality. In this respect,
he has risen above any pettiness and represents his art as his goal and responsibility, which he hopes will gain
him his place in eternity. Every movement by the army against Aung San Suu Kyi gives birth to a response. The
Rose (2) (p. 29) is a reection o her ability and strength in acing opposition; such strength has been the bearer
o revelation and courage. Here the interrelationship between the imagery and the reality highlights cultural values
that are buried deep within Oriental authenticity.
Welcome to Freedom (p. 39) represents Myint Swes prayer or Aung San Suu Kyis fnal release to reedom. In
this painting, he portrays her as a young, strong woman, as he believes that it is her representation o courageand strength that has become the beacon o hope or the Burmese people.
Myint Swes work is contemporary. He is careul not to express himsel personally using simple ormulas in regard
to Aung San Suu Kyi. Instead, he engages the viewer in his dialogue while he plays with philosophical questions
related to her experience. In Dead Lock(p. 33) he raises an awareness o her monumental commitment to her people
and in a manner creates a dialogue in reerence to her cause. The painting evokes both density and sotness with
a tightly knit mesh o tone and space. At the same time, there is a menacing tension in the scale o the fgure
representing Aung San Suu Kyi and the oversized padlock that represents the enormity o her situation.
Myint Swe believes that his art not only interprets his own creative abilities and aesthetic values, but hopes that
it gives birth to a new set o values and responses. He hopes that its silence gives eloquence to the intellect and
perception. In The Gate (p. 35) there are personal memories shrouded in emotion and nostalgia. Aung San Suu Kyis
now dilapidated home on Rangoons University Avenue has become a poignant landmark and symbol o democracy
connoting nostalgia or an earlier time when she would regularly deliver speeches rom a platorm erected near
this gate, undeniably a signifcant chapter in Burmas modern history.
The Lady is Going to Heaven (p. 31) shows a fgure going towards infnity. It represents Aung San Suu Kyi with a
unique admixture and blend o colours and hues that intuitively respond to an interpretation o the divine spirit
through the compositional element o light. Through these reerences, Myint Swe is reerring to the depth o his
Buddhist philosophy in which reverence in this world paves the way towards Nirvana.
In her 1990 landmark speech, Freedom rom Fear, Aung San Suu Kyi reerred to her ather: Bogyoke Aung San
regarded himsel as a revolutionary and searched tirelessly or answers to the problems that beset Burma during
her times o trial. He exhorted people to develop courage: Dont just depend on the courage and intrepidity o
others. Each and every one o you must make sacrifces to become a hero possessed o courage and intrepidity.Then only shall we all be able to enjoy true reedom. Later in her speech, she added: Fearlessness may be a git
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but perhaps more precious is the courage acquired through endeavour, courage that comes rom cultivating the
habit o reusing to let ear dictate ones actions. Myint Swe regards the role o an artist as that o an inheritor
o human values and is thus duty bound to lead in the right direction. His painting Freedom rom Fear (p. 37)
represents the useulness and importance o the creative image in keeping this vital mantra o hope alive. This is also
the title o her book.
The military junta came to power in 1988, the same year Aung San Suu Kyi returned to Burma to care or her
ailing mother, a trip that coincided with mass demonstrations against the government, leaving thousands dead
and one that would end her own reedom. In 1989, she became one o the ounding members o the National
League or Democracy. Like her late ather, Aung San, who played a crucial role in her countrys history; she has
become a symbol o reedom. Aung San was the enigmatic nationalist leader who irted with both communism
and ascism in his struggles to see Burma reed o British colonial rule. In 1947, months beore independence,
he was assassinated along with a number o other potential leaders o a new and ree Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi
was frst arrested in 1989 on charges o inciting unrest and barred rom running or elections called by the juntain 1990 when her party won 392 o the 495 parliamentary seats, a result that the junta reused to honour.
Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.
Balancing Act: Myanmar vs. Burma (p. 43) is Myint Swes response to the use o both Myanmar and Burma as
the countrys name, or although much o the world has accepted Myanmar as the ofcial name o the country,
it is a much debated issue, as reedom and human rights groups continue to reer to the country as Burma.
The outlook or the Burmese economy remains bleak, despite the countrys arsenal o natural resources, including
rice and other crops, minerals, natural gas and timber. More than hal the population comprises subsistence-
level armers, mainly in the Delta region, and poverty amongst the urban population is dire. Internationally,
Burma is regarded as a high risk destination. The mass protests o 2007 reected the populations dissatisaction
with current hardships and the military juntas decision to increase uel prices. Myint Swe depicts this situation
resulting rom the juntas mismanagement in his painting Myanmar: a Volcano (p. 44), where the letter M has
become a volcano waiting to erupt.
Under British colonial rule, Burmas traditional social structure entirely collapsed and today Burma is one o
the poorest countries in Southeast Asia. With a growing population o 55 million and an estimate o about hal
living below the poverty line, Burma ranks 130 out o 177 in terms o quality o lie according to the UNDPs 2006
Human Development Index. The public sector expenditure on health and education is considered to be less than
US$1 per person per year. Forced confscation o land, violence, and deliberate discrimination against minority
groups are only a ew o the atrocities committed against citizens. This crisis has resulted in up to one million
internally displaced people and a constant ow o reugees across the border, mainly to Thailand.
In Pretty but Poor(p. 47) Myint Swe characterizes poverty through the somber expressions o three young girls who
poignantly convey a sense o hopelessness. Poverty is another example o Myint Swes defant art that conronts thegrave situation o children in Burma. Malnutrition has become a growing problem as both urban and rural amilies
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struggle to maintain their amilies. With a high inant mortality rate (104 per 1,000 live births or children under
fve) it is not unusual or amilies to give up children as young as three years old to monasteries. In rural areas,
it is not uncommon or children to drop out o school in order to care or younger siblings while both parents work.
Embarrassment(p. 59) is another painting related to issues involving children. Poverty(p. 49) has also led to children
being exposed to the destruction o moral and social values. While these are not pretty pictures, nevertheless they
are the voices o dissent. As poverty widens the gaps o morality, it is not surprising that AIDS has beset society.
The AIDS Threat(p. 89) shows the need to expose and redress the structural imbalances that have contributed to its
maniestation in the frst place.
With the situation worsening, children are oten orced into labour. The worst abuse involves children rom ethnic
minority groups who are regularly orced into the ranks o the army as well as recruited by ethnic minority insurgent
groups or the purpose o combat. In urban centres, children are employed as housemaids and manual workers.
Children are being trafcked out o Burma into commercial labour as well as or sexual exploitation. It is estimatedthat about 20,000 are working in Thailand as beggars, street vendors and sex workers. Working along this
trajectory, Myint Swe hopes that paintings such as Child Labour (p. 51) increase the awareness o the bleak uture
or young and impoverished Burmese children. A deeper conceptual engagement within these linkages is reected
in Forced Labour (p. 53), which shows us another level o human abuse whereby villagers are oten randomly and
orceully recruited to work on government construction sites.
Myint Swes paintings, dealing with social concerns, regularly employ an abstract language that reminds the viewer o
the concrete struggles o those who have no voice and are so oten ignored. In the middle o this political destruction
are the results that have degraded the humanity o all those caught in its grasp with or without their acknowledgement.
Thus he can only turn to a discreet language in order to move beyond the loss o identity. Modern City (p. 55)
captures the bitter eects o an isolated society evoking some sort o emotional connection with the persons place
in lie, whether that be corruption, prostitution or the promise o a better uture. The World Upside-Down (p. 57)
is no brighter in its message, as people disregard the laws o nature and put aside their Buddhist principles.
For Myint Swe, the personal has always been the political. Through his own personal history, he has explored
the world o poverty and struggle in tandem with the larger struggle or democracy. By blending the two, he
has developed imagery that has taken control o his representations. He has provided a vision o everyday reality.
Gun Barrel (p. 61) is a view into this psyche where observers can possibly eel the same emotional pain. However,
Myint Swe does not push ormal principles aside in avour o ideas. Vibrant colours are one o the key elements
in his work, including We are Thirsty or Democracy (p. 63). Yet there is more than meets the eye. Behind these
seemingly colourul exteriors lay sadness and uncertainty. While he remains committed to bearing witness to
the political and social costs o his situation, he is also shadowed by an anxiety about the loss o cultural values
which together with the loss o democracy has become a double threat. His painting Cultural Desertication
(p. 65) reects a recurring ear o isolation rom his signs that bear an ominous message.
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Somehow the more Myint Swe varies his work, the more unsettling it becomes. He sees his works as being crucial
or understanding the connection between cultural and ideological positions that the junta would preer to
be out o sight. Similarly, the subjects o his imagery are treated in a way that both conceals and reveals them.
In Development is a LIE (p. 67) the buildings are recognizable, yet the lettering and the fgures are abstract.
They are hidden and obscure, compelling the viewer to contemplate the deeper meaning o his imagery.
Like many, Myint Swe believes that the uture o democracy in Burma lies in afrmative action by the major
powers and at the United Nations. New York is a consciously conceived landscape painting that defnes the need
or productive dialogue between the military junta and democratic voices through the diplomacy o the United
Nations. Stalemate: NLD vs. SPDC (p. 71) is another visual statement that recognizes the utility o the current
situation where the junta reuses to have any dialogue with opposition parties. Might and Right (p. 73) represents
a more philosophical view. Asian legends are ull o imagery on the might o tigers and the wisdom o the tortoise.
In Confagration (p. 75) Myint Swe shows how art can be critical o politics as it orients itsel to comment uponthe juntas mainstream propaganda, which defnes Burmas current socio-political environment. 1988 (p. 77)
represents the backdrop o the fght or democracy. The title aptly describes the historical moment o the uprising,
which started with peaceul demonstrations at the University o Rangoon. University Campus (p. 83) reects
the deep sentimental attachment the artist has with both cultural and political activism. The demonstrations
led to the arrest o many young students and the random imprisonment o political activists, or many o whom
the appalling prison conditions are a psychological death sentence in itsel. There is something revealing and
tortuous about Death Row at Insein Prison (p. 85), as the painting challenges the subconscious in its reection
o the ear o solitary confnement.
As a spectator, Myint Swe absorbs the dynamics o his volatile world. While his conceptual ramework has
consistently been in one way or another a response to the social and the political, his choice o style or a painting
also plays a part in dictating its content. Gunre (p. 79) is an example o how he reuses to be contained within
the parameters o one style o painting, reeing himsel to innovate and fnd new confgurations o expression.
In contrast, he employed the colours and techniques o impressionism in the still lie Flowers or a Hero (p. 81).
Here he aptly shapes an identity or the actual shooting o an unknown person, an image that still resonates today.
At times Myint Swe can be coyly ippant because in Burma cultural practitioners oten use satire to disguise theirmessages. Three Secretaries (p. 87) is an unconventional expression whereby he attempts to create an image in the
viewers mind by the use o text and a non-image approach. The paradox lies in trying to create an image by the lack
o it in the same manner as the clandestine generals 1, 2 and 3 who rule the country are rarely physically visible. Nearer
to conventional expression is Inauspicious Trading (p. 95) where his narrative relates to the exploitation o commerce
by international investors who accord the junta recognition despite the exploitation o resources and labour. In other
works such as The Red Hand (p. 93), the message speaks between the lines and purposely so: the meanings are
layered. These works use wit and irony to remind us o the hardship o human existence and the injustice perpetrated
by dictatorial regimes or almost hal a century.
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Amidst reections on the serious concerns that aict Burma, Myint Swes body o political art presents many
sites o contention, whether in terms o cultural identity, social geography or humanitarian concern. While the
rest o Southeast Asia comes to terms with globalization with new visions and imperatives, Blind Alley (p. 91) is a
reminder that progress in Burma has allen into dystopia.
It is clear that ourteen years o international sanctions and the continuing global concern or the detention
o political prisoners and the abuse o human rights have had very little eect on the junta. However, many
believe that diplomatic engagement is required, as well as more assertive sanctions, particularly with the
co-operation o Burmas Asian neighbours and the United Nations. What will the Future Bring? (p. 97) is part o
Myint Swes emotional struggle to fnd pertinence in his disparate world.
In Myint Swes paintings, we see the struggles o the Burmese people: personal, specifc, caring, evoking the large
issues o his times. The content is not part o an overt political agenda. In its personal treatment, it is evocative
o the tradition o painting that has evolved rom a cultural history. These works show us that the paintedsurace can bear traces o emotional strength. They tell poignant stories reminding us that, as human beings,
many o us are discovering that the world is ull o hope as well as pain and suering.
The quintessential revolution is that o the spirit, born o an intellectual conviction o the need or change
in those mental attitudes and values which shape the course o a nations development. Aung San Suu Kyi
uttered these words in her Freedom rom Fear speech in 1990. Such shared optimism is a starting point and
an intuitive way to look at Myint Swes art.
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My Outlook and Attitudes towards Art and Lie by Myint Swe (1999)
Ibelievethatwithinabeautifulpaintingliesemotionandatheme.Itisimpossibletopaint
without passion and thought.
Thepoisoningofonesmindisthemostdestructivemedicine. VirtueandViceistheprivilegeofeveryindividual.Loveandhateisthechoiceoftherecipient.
Truthisforever.Itneverfadesorweakens.
Manbeautiesandembellishestheworld.Andmanalsohasthepowertodestroybeauty.
Theoriginsofthemostpricelessandbeautifulrubyarerough.Rubiesareburieddeepin
wild valleys and rocky mountains.
Anartistunderstandsthevalueoffreedommorethanothers.
Manbelievesthatmoneybuyshappiness.Asanartist,Icreatemyhappinesswithmyonly
needs paints and brushes.
ArtistictalentisagiftfromGod.Astrongmanmaylift1,000kilosbutheisincapableof
holding a brush.
Apricelesspaintingthatmaybecherishedforalifetimemaybecreatedbythequickand
swit strokes o a brush.
Themoregiftedanartistis,thepoorerheis.
Anartistneedsnolawyers.
Aconjurorcanmisleadasmallgroup.Anartistcaninuenceanentireworld.
Whenanartistuseshisloverasamodel,theycanneverbecomespousesbecausethelover
may become obsessed with her beauty. Whilemostartistsarepatientandobjectivewiththeirart,theyareoftenintolerantin
mundane aairs.
Destructioninwartakesashortertimethansurveyingamap.Whileputtingpainttocanvas
can be rapid, ormulating the idea takes time.
Beanartistandtheworldwillappreciateyourtalent.
Peopleareobsessedwithlove,powerandwealth.Iamanartistandmerelyafool.
Paintersandloversarethesameloverspampereachother,paintingspamperpainters.
Myabilitiesareatributetomylifeexperiencesandmyart.
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CAPITALISM IS DYING! 17
PLATESPaintings of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
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The Lady is going on a very
long journey. As she sits in
her solitary compartment,
she contemplates the passing
scenery o her commitments
waiting patiently to reach her
destination.
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Waiting or the Last Station, 1999 Oil on canvas 90 x 120 cm
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A strong hurricane tries its best to blow away the ragile
Lady and ing her o ar away. Watching with anxiety,
I wonder whether she will crumble like a piece o brittle
wood or melt away like wax. But no! She is earless and
hard as steel. Her head remains unbowed. Oh! You oolish
wind no matter how hard and strong you blow, you can
never destroy her. And though you can win over others,you will never win over her....She is a Lotus Beauty.
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The Lotus Beauty, 1999 Oil on canvas 59 x 89 cm
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Characterized by its beauty
and strength and its ability to
stay aoat the Water Hyacinth
is valued or its endurance.
No matter how turbulent the
waters are, the water hyacinth
always oats serenely abovethe surace and is never pulled
down by turbulence.
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The Enduring Water Hyacinth, 2000 Oil on canvas 45 x 60 cm
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Everyone loves owers, especially
Roses. A Rose is ragrant and
sot, but beware o its thorns!
Treat it gently....or the harder
you squeeze it, the more pain
you will eel and the more you
will bleed. The Rose is worthyo respect and admiration.
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The Rose (1), 2003 Oil on canvas 105 x 120 cm
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The army is abundant as green grass
on the ground. A fre has been ignited
to burn the rare and precious Rose
to death. But she is resilient and her
strength can withstand the ames.
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The Rose (2), 2003 Oil on canvas 105 x 150 cm
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The Lady is guided by
the universal principles
o justice and the phi-
losophies o Buddhism.
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The Lady is Going to Heaven, 1997 Oil on canvas 90 x 120 cm
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Do you think that she
can open that big
and heavy door with
her ragility? Yes, it is
possible!
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Dead Lock, 2003 Oil on canvas 105 x 150 cm
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The Gate outside the Ladys
House where she used to
give speeches and blessings
to the people
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The Gate, 2003 Oil on canvas 105 x 150 cm Collection o Larry Jagan
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It is not power that corrupts but ear.
Fear o losing power corrupts those who
wield it and ear o the scourge o power
corrupts those who are subject to it. Aung
San Suu Kyi: Freedom rom Fear, 1990.
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Freedom rom Fear, 2003 Oil on canvas 60 x 105 cm
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Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was
temporarily released rom
house arrest in 2001 and
then re-arrested.
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Welcome to Freedom, 2002 Oil on canvas 105 x 179 cm
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PLATESOther Paintings
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Balancing Act: Myanmar vs. Burma, 2001 Oil on canvas 90 x 120 cm
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Myanmar - A Volcano, 2004 Oil on canvas 105 x 150 cm
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Pretty but Poor, 1999 Oil on canvas 60 x 90 cm
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Poverty, 1999 Oil on canvas 60 x 90 cm
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Child Labour, 1999 Oil on canvas 90 x 120 cm
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It is a usual practice or the army to
round up villagers in the middle o
the night and orce them into bonded
labour to build roads and work on
government construction sites.
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Forced Labour, 1999 Oil on canvas 60 x 90 cm
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Modern cities oer many dierent lie choices, but to live
comortably one requires a good income. In Rangoon,
corruption and vice provide these opportunities. This
apartment building represents the many acets o modern
living here in Rangoon. For example, Apartment One may
be occupied by a amily whose ambitious and avaricious
daughter regularly spends her nights with wealthy men.
Apartment Two may be an illegal gambling den; however,
the amily living there has the police on their payroll.
The daughter o the owner o Apartment Three is seen
every night, being driven o in expensive cars to entertain
rich men who pay her well. Living a very comortable lie
in Apartment Four is the amily o a school principal, who
accepts bribes rom those who strive or good examination
results. In Apartment Five is the wie o a seaman who
regularly sends money home unaware that she is havingan aair with another man. Apartment Six is occupied by
seven prostitutes and in Apartment Seven is the amily
o a doctor who demands exorbitant ees or his services
regardless o the suering that surrounds him. In Apartment
Eight lives the mistress o a high military ofcial. It is
devastating how these people earn their keep. Who is
responsible?
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Modern City, 1998 Oil on canvas 90 x 120 cm Collection o the National Art Gallery, Malaysia
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Lie is not air. In this world, men and animals live together, but
man is cruel to animals; he treats them cruelly, making them work,
torturing them and then killing them or ood. Despite the laws
o respect that proess compassion, man has become oblivious. In
a reversal o roles where man takes the place o the animal, he is
certain to become wiser about lie or the rich abuse the poor, the
educated disrespect the uneducated and those in power suppress
the powerless. BUT in this world TRUTH will prevail, or the Law o
Nature is: What Begins must End!
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The World Upside-Down, 1998 Oil on canvas 75 x 104 cm Collection o the National Art Gallery, Malaysia
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Our youth and children are being
corrupted as a result o poverty and
the destruction o morals and social
values ollowing the dictatorship here
in Burma.
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Embarrassment, 2000 Oil on canvas 90 x 120 cm
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Water and Democracy do
not ow rom a gun barrel.
Only ear and intimidation
ow rom it.
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Gun Barrel, 2002 Oil on canvas 105 x 120 cm
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Democracy is as essential as
water or lie.
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We are Thirsty or Democracy!, 2002 Oil on canvas 105 x 180 cm
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Cultural Desertication, 2005 Oil on canvas 91 x 120 cm
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Development in Burma is a LIE - symbolized
by the three large letters incorporated in
the building structure. In this painting, the
people are diminutive in scale and dwared by
the buildings since development in Burma is
seen as investing in inrastructure rather than
investing in human development. The painting
on the right shows the broken bodies omothers and daughters symbolizing the rape
o the country by the army.
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Development is a LIE, 2003 Oil on canvas 210 x 150 cm (2 panels) Exhibited in the Chiang Mai Art Museum and Dahlem Museum, Berlin
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Two ships are on a collision
course in New York harbour
outside the United Nations
Building. Will they ever
resolve their dierences?
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New York, 2003 Oil on canvas 105 x 150 cm Exhibited in the Chiang Mai Museum and Dahlem Museum, Berlin
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Stalemate: NLD vs. SPDC, 2003 Oil on canvas 104 x 150 cm
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Tigers are ferce, wild and cruel
animals that use their power to kill
and devour other animals. Tortoises
are small, timid and harmless. But
they are adept at avoiding danger
and are courageous in conronting
their enemies. They simply retract
and hide in their shells, patientlyaccepting torture while waiting or
the danger to pass. Do not give
up your courage. Truth is like the
tortoise shell; it will prevail and will
protect you rom the tyrants.
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Might and Right, 1998 Oil on canvas 90 x 120 cm
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BURMA: THE QUIET VIOLENCE 73
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Culture and Education
Organization o Society
National Cause
Forced Labour
Literature
Art
Grid o Electricity
ReligionAgriculture
Transport
Ination
Organization
Narcotics
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Confagration, 2002 Oil on canvas 105 x 185 cm
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The student uprising at the University o Rangoon leading to peaceul
democracy demonstrations throughout Burma and marking the start
o the Democracy Movement, known as the 888
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1988, 2004 Oil on canvas 318 x 151 cm (3 panels)
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Gunre, 2005 Oil on canvas 160 x 210 cm
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This is about an actual event. Not long ago,
some gunmen shot a man along a roadside
and removed his body but let behind his
spectacles and handkerchie lying in a pool o
blood. A while later a stranger placed a bouquet
o owers beside the dead mans belongings
as a tribute o praise or a hero.
80 BURMA: THE QUIET VIOLENCE
Flowers or a Hero, 1998 Oil on canvas 60 x 90 cm
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BURMA: THE QUIET VIOLENCE 81
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Everyone in Rangoon knows the university campus by the Burmese
name Gangaw Ywa. When I was a student there, we had
ten art exhibitions under the banner o Gangaw- Ywa at the
universitys Dome and Judson Building. Exhibitions were organized
by a village headman and a group o ladies known as paddy
planters an avant garde group, who made the campus a happy
and joyul place. Today you only see the leaves shed by the Mohur
trees with their red and blue owers covering the ground and youimagine that you hear the sobbing o its mournul past.
82 BURMA: THE QUIET VIOLENCE
University Campus, 1998 Oil on canvas 45 x 60 cm
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BURMA: THE QUIET VIOLENCE 83
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Death Row at Insein Prison, 2003 Oil on canvas 102 x 120 cm
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S Secretary Number One
O Secretary Number Two (is no more..)
S - Secretary Number Three
This painting was executed ater Secretary Number Two was killed in a
helicopter crash.
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Three Secretaries, 2001 Oil on canvas 60 x 90 cm
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The AIDS Threat, 2000 Oil on canvas 90 x 120 cm
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D e v e l o p m e n t
in Burma is like
a blind alley - it
goes nowhere.
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Blind Alley, 2001 Oil on canvas 60 x 90 cm
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The Red Hand, 2004 Oil on canvas 182 x 107 cm
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BURMA: THE QUIET VIOLENCE 93
International investors and traders continue to do business
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International investors and traders continue to do business
with the military junta only to be exploited and ridiculed by
the international community. We are sacrifcing our lives or
the love o our country and we ask o you: Stop eeding the
plants o poison. Are you only interested in profts?
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Inauspicious Trading, 2003 Oil on canvas 107 x 184 cm
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BURMA: THE QUIET VIOLENCE 95
We need the support o the international
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We need the support o the international
community and more assertive action rom
the United Nations to end the destruction
and urther degradation o Burma.
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What Will the Future Bring?, 2005 Oil on canvas 324 x 210 cm (2 panels)
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BIOGRAPHY
Myint Swe was born in Taungoke, Rakhine State, Burma,
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in 1956 to U Tun Tin and Daw Shwe Thant. He graduated
with a B.Sc in Zoology rom Rangoon University in
1981 and worked or fve years as a civil servant in the
Department o Fisheries in various states throughout the
country.
He studied at the State School o Fine Arts between
1975 and 1977. He later studied painting under S Tin
Shwe or twenty years. He also studied under U Lun
Gwye, one o Burmas most noted modern-day painters
and in the typical Burmese tradition honours the critique
and advice rom other artists such as U Mya Aye, U Myat
Kyaw and Daw Tin Tin San all o whom were his
teachers at the State School o Fine Arts and at the
Rangoon University Art Association. His work has also
been strongly inuenced by the paintings and philosophieso U Thein Han, one o the most important pioneers o
Burmese modern painting practices. He established Vision
Art Gallery in Rangoon as a platorm or his art.
He has participated in more than fty exhibitions in Burma and has had shows in Thailand in 1999, 2001 and 2002.
In 2004, he participated in the international exhibition Identities vs. Globalisation at the Chiang Mai Art Museum
and the Dahlem Art Museum in Berlin. Myint Swe is married to Daw Nwe Nwe. He lives in Rongoon, Burma.
Museum collections:
National Museum o Myanmar
National Art Gallery o Malaysia
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www.thavibu.comThe Silom Galleria, 3rd FloorSuite 308, 919/1 Silom rd.,Bangkok 10500, Thailand
Tel (662) 266 5454, Fax. (662) 266 5455
E-mail. ino@thavibu.com
B1G1 - Thavibu Gallery has partnered with Buy 1 Give 1 Free, which
implies that when you buy an art work rom Thavibu Gallery you will
automatically give a donation to a charity in the B1G1 network. Donation
rom one painting purchased provides one blind person with accommo-
dation and shelter or one month. www.buy1-give1ree.com
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