An artist,
an activist.
Fuck the coup
Since the military coup in Myanmar in February 2021, the three-finger salute has become the symbol of resistance. Many artists have been denouncing the coup through art. This painting belongs to the Fuck the Coup series in which the artist uses different materials to express her resistance, anger, trauma, and hope for the movement.
Flowers will always bloom
Beginning in April 2021, after weeks of violent attacks by the military on peaceful anti-coup protesters that left hundreds dead, activists coordinated a series “flower strikes.” People wore flowers and placed floral tributes at locations where security forces had killed civilians in an act of non-violent protest. This series, a collaboration between the artist and her sibling, was created as a contribution to the flower strike. The incorporation of dried flower petals symbolizes the memories of those lost to the violent crackdown by the military.
Daydreaming Diaspora
The artist began this series while confined for two weeks in a quarantine hotel in Bangkok after being forced to flee Myanmar for her safety. Stuck in a tiny room, allowed outside for only 15 minutes in two weeks, and with no clear path forward, the artist found herself alone and processing feelings of guilt for leaving and of longing for her family and friends. These works capture her feelings of now being part of the diaspora and of having lost a home.
Power in Negotiations
This series was started to process/document the artist’s emotions/frustration of the coup, the political institutions and their dynamics. “People are our sole priority”, the title of an article, published by the state media in December 2020 under the civilian government. The content of the article has nothing to do with the title as it was about the travel restrictions under COVID. When the artist saw this, she couldn’t help but feel the people had never been put as the priority when the power was negotiating.
She longs for a day to have a government that protects the people, not the other way around.
