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Contents
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Culture
Visit
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10 94th Street
New Vistas for Burmese Artists
PYI PHYO
CEIL MILLER BOUCHET
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Burmese artist Htein Lin breaks free of censorship and prison – interview
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KYAW SEIN
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Rangoon’s Best Contemporary Art Galleries MARIAN SHEK
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14 Experience 23 Streets of Yangon Walking the Streets with George Orwell BOB PERCIVAL
Art
29 Bogyoke Aung San Market SAM GASKIN
15 Why Moe Satt is Leading Myanmar’s Contemporary Art Scene SAM GASKIN
21 Art as basis for future Pansodan Gallery BORBÁRBÁLA KÁLMÁN
yangon myanmar
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Vista
for
CULTURE
New
Burmese artists ARTICLE Ceil Miller Bouchet ARTWORK
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Myint Soe
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CULTURE
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“OH, please let me go to heaven!”
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yee Myintt Saw, a Burmese artist, was joking as we chatted in his sweltering studio on the ground floor of a laundry-festooned apartment building in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city. But for many in this traditional Buddhist society, his plea would not be funny. Although Mr. Saw’s impressionistic oils of market scenes sell like hotcakes in a local gallery, his passion is painting the human body. Nude. “Our Buddhist culture cannot accept nudes,” said Mr. Saw, a 72-year-old former math teacher, perched on an armchair under his lushly layered oil of a naked beauty. “In your country, students study the human form in art school. I believe in this wider artistic knowledge.” Mr. Saw isn’t the only Burmese artist venturing into new creative territory these days. Thanks
to reinvigorated local galleries, an influx of international visitors and the Internet, Myanmar artists are emerging from decades of isolation brought on by a military government and international sanctions that, over the years, have both halted economic growth and hindered creative cross-pollination with the outside world. Although the military still tightly controls public life, it appears, based on conversations with local artists and businesspeople, that the atmosphere is slowly becoming more open to outside influences. On an exploration of the local art scene in Yangon last year, I found that a few days visiting contemporary galleries and studios provided something far more profound than Myanmar’s pagoda-and-traditions tourist trail: a chance to engage with the contemporary culture and people of this fascinating, complicated country. I began with the six-year-old River Gallery, in the colonial-era Strand Hotel annex. On the way, my taxi rattled past the Shwedagon Pagoda, a
Min Zaw with one of his works Justin Mott
left Nude in Blue Kyee Myint Saw
right River Gallery
mirage-like mountain of gold shimmering through curtains of monsoon rain, and over rough streets lined with grand dilapidated government buildings. Taking a cue from locals, I removed my sandals before stepping out into ankle-deep water in front of River Gallery’s side entrance. Inside the lofty space, the walls were generously hung with figurative and semi-abstract work. “Art is a wonderful way to understand this country,” said Gill Pattison, the transplanted New Zealander who owns the gallery. “Although the subject matter remains largely traditional, there’s often more to a painting than meets the eye,” she added, referring to a landscape pulsing with saturated golds, crimsons and oranges by the artist Zaw Win Pe. “For example, colors like red can be an outlet for those passionate emotions culturally or politically forbidden in daily life.” Although River Gallery is easily accessible, Yangon’s other serious galleries are mostly artist-run on a shoestring and sprinkled throughout the city in office buildings or residential neighborhoods. So, on Ms. Pattison’s advice, I hired an Englishspeaking guide who arranged for a taxi, plotted our itinerary and called ahead to ensure gallery owners would be available. But gallery visits would wait until the next day,
“Although the subject matter remains largely traditional, there’s often more to a painting
because I needed to recover from the morning’s predawn flight from northern Myanmar, where I’d spent a few days at the Bagan historic site, flashlight in hand, exploring the genesis of Burmese painting on the walls of temples and monasteries built by the first Burmese kings, their courtiers and other patrons from the 11th to 13th centuries. Considering
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than meets the eye...”
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Local artist of Yangon
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CULTURE
Jae Eun Cho
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the lack of government protection, it seemed miraculous that those first Burmese paintings, using natural pigments to illustrate scenes from Buddha’s life, hadn’t crumbled away. In fact, it appears that Burmese painters, like artists everywhere, have largely flourished or withered over the centuries depending on patronage, prevailing political winds and exchange with outside influences. Andrew Ranard, a journalist who happened upon Burma’s nascent art market in 1994, wrote of “a Galapagos Islands of art, where styles had evolved into arrested forms.” In his book, “Burmese Painting,” he writes that modernist painting had died out after a brief period of experimentation in the 1960s and ’70s, mostly because of a lack of local support. This allowed for a full flowering of realism, naturalism and impressionism — those “arrested forms” that he found still evolving in Myanmar. This legacy, combined with a cultural bent toward avoiding controversy and emphasizing acceptable images like Buddhist monks and markets, would lend a sedate air to the visual arts in Myanmar even if there were no political censorship, according to Aung Aung Taik, a Burmese artist who lives in California. “Painters learn excellent technique, but there’s no Allen Ginsberg in Burmese tradition,” he said. Perhaps the country’s closest answer to the Beat generation is 64-year-old who has defied
artist Aye Ko, works from his gallery convention to express his experimental vision. Mr. Myint, who and teaching space on two lightdrenched floors of an office building has had shows in Asia and Europe, in a downtown area bristling with was the first Burmese artist to win vendors selling kabobs and fruit. a prize at the prestigious Asean Art With his ponytail, biceps tattoo Awards, in 2002. and graphic T-shirt tucked into a A visit to Mr. Myint’s Inya sarong-like cotton longyi, Mr. Ko, Gallery the next morning took me 48, looks as if he’d be at home in through the potholed side streets New York. In fact, he did spend of Yangon to a lovely lakeside three months in Manhattan as a neighborhood where moldering recipient of the mansions stood Asian Cultural beside new villas. “Painters learn Council Award in Although his 2005. “Americans body is rail thin, excellent technique, don’t know about Mr. Myint has Myanmar,” he a strong spirit. but there’s no Allen said as we ate His gallery, sticky coconut a two-room Ginsberg in rice and palm garage, throbs sugar snacks. “We with emotion Burmese tradition,” are poor, but my emanating from responsibility is to the bold colors my country, to its and themes of the paintings — his own and those of history and its future.” Between gallery visits, I headed other abstract artists. back to my hotel, a teakwood house “In Myanmar,” he said, as rain in the leafy Embassy District, built streamed down outside, “they don’t in the 1920s for the governor of like abstract paintings because they Burma’s southern states and now don’t know the meaning of modern owned by the luxury hotel group art.” But even so, he is optimistic. Orient Express. What a treat to enjoy “I think the future will be better,” he a bowl of watermelon gazpacho said, “because younger artists can have exchanges and travel. They have and a fresh lime soda on the broad veranda under creaking ceiling fans. the Internet. When I was young, That afternoon, at Studio Square, there was only books!” another nontraditional Yangon One nonprofit gallery and art gallery on the upper floor of an school, New Zero Art Space, has office building, I found more artists started an artist-in-residence program, under which foreign artists working to connect past and present. Nyein Chan Su, an owner, opened the visit and share ideas with Burmese art students. New Zero’s founder, the door, inviting us into the two-room
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space he shares with several other artists. Mr. Su (he goes by NCS), 37, has already exhibited in many countries. But, like Aye Ko of New Zero, he remains true to his Burmese heritage. For example, his semi-abstract, bold and colorful Nat+ series in acrylic on canvas explores preBuddhist animist beliefs. His fellow Studio Square artist, Min Zaw, also dips into his heritage for inspiration. “Every year I travel to Bagan, to Ananda Monastery,” he said, referring to the northern Myanmar site that I had visited a few days earlier. I could almost see the past flowing into the present through the elegant
lines of Mr. Zaw’s flat, serene “Women” paintings. Continue reading the main story The next day I stopped by New Treasure Art Gallery, in the suburban Golden Valley neighborhood. It is owned by Min Wae Aung, whose stylized paintings of Buddhist monks sell for up to $20,000 at galleries in London, Paris and Hong Kong. Now they’re widely copied in Myanmar. I found look-alikes at the city’s old Bogyoke Market (the perfect detour, incidentally, for those looking for local crafts, from silk sarongs to lacquered offering boxes). I was interested in Mr. Aung’s collection of
Untitled Aung Ko
Myanmar is a cash-based
speaking guide ($30 a day,
economy; book and
including car). Phyu Su
pay ahead to avoid an
Mon, Yangon representative
“administration fee” for
for Destination Asia, can
credit card payment
organize an itinerary.
River Gallery, to the rear
“Old Burmese Masters” paintings. Because there’s no national art museum, it’s up to Mr. Aung and others to preserve and display the work of their 20th-century predecessors. For years, he had no space. But beginning in November, his collection will be displayed in a new gallery he’s built next to his current one. My last stop took me back to where I began, into the heart of the city’s colonial center across from the muddy Yangon River. Gill Pattison had arranged for me to meet one of River Gallery’s emerging painters, Mor Mor. Petite, with ebony hair flowing down her back, Ms. Mor
(Destination Asia, 02/01,
of the Strand Hotel, is easy
second floor, Pearl
to locate (92 Strand Road;
Condominium A, corner of
951-24-33-77, ext. 1821;
Kaba Aye Pagoda and Saya
rivergallerymyanmar.com).
San Road, Bahan Township;
For the other galleries and
951-55-66-41; phyusu@
studios, I hired an English-
destination-asia.com)
won her first international prize three years ago in Hong Kong, at 29. Since then, she’s been focusing on a series depicting giant water droplets making their way down large canvases. I asked her why she paints water. “When our people look at water, it brings us peace,” she said. “In my mind the water is rolling, drop by drop, down from the top. Nothing exists at the top forever. Even in our religion, nothing is forever. Things have been, they disappear, born, die, reborn, just like the water cycle.” Perhaps the cycle is beginning anew for Myanmar artists at last.
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IF YOU GO
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Rangoon’s BEST
Art Galleries
contemporary
featured artist
Moe Kyaw
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featured artist
Kaung Tsai
VISIT
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featured artist
Soe Win
featured artist
Nyein Chan Su
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featured artist
Kaung Paing
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River Gallery
New Zero Art Space
Set up in 2005 by New Zealander Gill Pattison, River Gallery is a pioneer and leading light of Burmese art, showcasing the huge diversity of contemporary Burmese talent. The gallery also promotes the profile of Burmese art internationally through a yearly programme of exhibitions at institutions around the world. Located in the colonial grandeur of the Strand Hotel, River Gallery is a serene space displaying the best artists in Burma, both established and emerging. It welcomes all types of styles and subject matter, ranging from the traditional to the more progressive. A second gallery was opened nearby in October 2013, widening the institution’s remit to encompass installations and performances. River Gallery, Strand Hotel Annex, 92 Strand Rd, Rangoon, Burma, +95 (0)1 243377/8/9 (Ext) 1810
New Zero Art Space is notable for being Burma’s first non-profit art space, dedicated to developing and promoting the next generation of Burmese artists. It first opened in 2008 as a home for the New Zero artists’ collective, who had been exhibiting together since 1990. Later, a studio was added to the space, as well as an art library, which covers the history of Burmese art movements. Alongside regular exhibitions of contemporary and multimedia art from both local and international artists, New Zero also runs seminars and free art classes for children and adults. With its hosting of festivals such as The International Multimedia Art Festival in 2012, and its residency scheme for artists from around the world, New Zero is not only a place for local artists to meet and work.
It also acts as a hub for cultural exchange and engagement, and an exciting place to discover Burma’s fledgling experimental arts scene. New Zero Art Space, 202 United Condor Alanpya Phayar Road, Dagon Township, Rangoon, Burma, +95 (0)9 73129520
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New Treasure Art Gallery Set up in an unassuming apartment in the exclusive Golden Valley neighborhood near Inya Lake, the New Treasure Art Gallery is a real gem. The gallery focuses on exhibiting the work of young Burmese artists, and is partly owned by internationally acclaimed artist Min Wae Aung, famed for his beautiful, stylized representations of Buddhist monks. Min Wae Aung established New Treasure with ten other artists to inspire and encourage up and coming artists
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a real gem. The gallery focuses on exhibiting the work of young Burmese artists, and is partly owned by internationally acclaimed artist Min Wae Aung, famed for his beautiful, stylized representations of Buddhist monks. Min Wae Aung established New Treasure with ten other artists to inspire and encourage up and coming artists who have an interest in painting. To that end, the walls are crammed full of canvases, including a large collection of 20th-century art.
artists, foreign expats and tourists, who gather for conversation, beer and refreshments. This free weekly event starts at 7.30pm and, as the website says, expect someone to bring out a guitar sometime after midnight. Pansodan Art Gallery, 1st Floor, 286 Pansodan Street (Upper Block), Kyauktada Township, Rangoon, Burma, +95 (0)9 5130846
New Treasure Art Gallery, 84A Thanlwin Road, Golden Hill Avenue, Golden Valley, Bahan Township, Rangoon, Burma, +95 (0)1 526776, +95 (0)1 503712
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Inya Art Gallery Inya Art Gallery was founded in a garage in 1989 by prominent abstract artist Aung Myint. More than 20 years later, it is still going strong, despite being the only independent artist-run gallery in Burma for most of that time. Aung Myint has been practising since the 1960s and was the first Burmese artist to win an ASEAN Art Award (2002). His work features in permanent collections across Asia and in private collections around the world, but he also shows pieces at Inya Art Gallery, along with a rotation of around 20 artists working within similar modern and post-modern themes. Workshops are also held to help educate people and open their minds towards personal, artistic expression.
VISIT
Inya Art Gallery, 50B Inya Road, Kamayut Township, Rangoon, Burma, +95 (0)1 524818 or +95 (0)1 524327
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Pansodan Art Gallery
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Opened in 2008 by Aung Soe Min and Nance Cunningham, Pansodan Art Gallery represents the excitement and exuberance of Rangoon’s rising artists. With a regular rotation of exhibitions, this is the place to find bold, colorful and daring works by soon-to-bediscovered artists. The gallery also houses an impressive collection of old photos, propaganda posters and postcards. Every Tuesday night, Pansodan attracts an edgy crowd of
A spirit of originality and progress is what makes Gallery 65 stand out in the Rangoon art scene. The gallery exhibits contemporary paintings, sculpture and photography by respected Burmese artists, such as Khin Maung Yin, and emerging talents, such as Tin Maung Win. Established in 2010, the gallery is located in a quiet residential area, near downtown Rangoon, in a beautiful old colonial teak house. Gallery 65 always seeks to remain accessible and vibrant while showing some of the most unique work around. Gallery 65, 65 Yaw Min Gyi Road, Dagon Township, Rangoon, Burma, +95 (0)1 246317
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KZL Studio and Gallery Located in the peaceful surroundings of the Golden Valley, close to the magnificent Shwedagon Pagoda, the KZL Gallery is home to the work of 20 leading Burmese contemporary artists. It is also the actual home
of prominent young artist Khin Zaw Latt, who lives, works and exhibits his pieces above the main gallery. Khin Zaw Latt is famed for his portraits, having painted the first portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi to be deemed suitable for public consumption by the authorities. With the uncontroversial title Just a Portrait, the painting depicts the iconic opposition leader made up of tiny crimson images of her father. This painting drew attention when it was entered into the Myanmar Portrait Competition in 2011, but it was his second painting, A Tale of My Daughter, that won first prize. KZL Studio and Gallery, 184/84(A), Golden Hill Road, Shwe Taung Gone (Near PanDiTa RaMa Sasana Yeik Tha), Bahan Township, Rangoon, Burma, +95 (0)9 5333518
art of today, with some heavyweight artists on show. The gallery was founded by well-known artist Nay Myo Say, who has a room dedicated to his work. His paintings incorporate both traditional Buddhist and Burmese elements with abstract and modern features, using bright colors to highlight his subtle themes. Anawmar Art Gallery, 18A Thukhawaddy Road, Sooniram Park, Yankin Township, Burma.
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Nawaday Tharlar Art Gallery Nawaday Tharlar Art Gallery was opened in 2012 by curator and art
music, poetry, performances and stories at seemingly impromptu, but widely popular, bimonthly open mic nights. Nawaday Tharlar Art Gallery, Room 304, 3rd Floor, 20B Yaw Min Gyi Road, Rangoon, Burma, +95 (0)9 43097918
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Lokanat Galleries Established in 1971 with the motto ‘Truth, Beauty, Love’, Lokanat Galleries could well be Burma’s longest-running gallery. It is a non-profit organisation with a long heritage of promoting local contemporary and classical art. Starting with nine member artists, the gallery now represents the work of 21 local artists. There are two halls, one showing a small collection of traditional art, the other exhibiting new shows every few months. The Lokanat Galleries’ reach also extends beyond its own walls, as it works with embassies and the UN, and hosts competitions and book fairs. Significantly, it was also the first gallery to obtain official permission to hold performance art and installations.
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Anawmar Art Gallery Anawmar Gallery represents the best of old and new in Burmese art. There are around 200 paintings on show, stretching back from the early 20th century up until the contemporary
collector Pyay Way, and is another hub for artists and art-lovers alike. The gallery supports more than 50 artists from around the country, many of whom have to travel to Rangoon to show their work. The gallery itself has a friendly and welcoming vibe, providing space and resources for artists to practise their art. It is also a meeting place for creative people, who share their art,
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Lokanat Galleries, 62, 1st Floor, Pansodan Street, Kyauktada Township., Rangoon, Burma, +95 (0)1 382269
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ART
why
Moe Satt is leading
Myanmar’s contempoary art scene
ARTICLE Sam Gaskin ARTWORK
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Moe Satt
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Sitting at an outdoor table in Yangon’s Chinatown,
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plastic bag of fat, fried grasshoppers in front of him, Moe Satt makes a kissing sound three times in quick succession, summoning a waiter to order another round of beers. With friends he’ll sometimes do something different, snapping the middle finger of his left hand between the thumb and middle finger of his right, creating a resounding crack, the sonic equivalent of a secret handshake. These aren’t his only methods of getting attention. He’s also one of the leading contemporary artists in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Satt is also one of six young artists nominated for the Hugo Boss Asia Art Award, which this year will be awarded to an artist under 35 from China or Southeast Asia. The winner will be announced during a ceremony at the Rockbund Art Museum in
Shanghai on November 26. This is the second edition of the prize, which Hong Kong artist Kwan Sheung won in 2013 for his politically-inspired installations and videos, including a crowd control barrier filled with water and maotai, the pricey alcohol associated with corruption in China. Many of Satt’s works, showing at the museum until January 3, 2016, derive from the culture of the country’s Buddhist majority, which constitutes around 90 percent of the population. Face and Fingers (2008-09) is a series of photographs capturing meaningful gestures—like Buddhist mudras—of his own invention with names such as Teasing, Blossoms, Wave, and Gun, the last of which nods to the violence and intimidation of the military rulers who have controlled the
Hands Around Yangon 2012
F n’ F
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country since 1962. Shwedagon Pagoda, a 99-meter-tall pyramid of gold (Face and Fingers) Satt took photos of himself performing ten new topped with thousands of diamonds and rubies, Satt’s 2009 gestures a day for months, refining them down to secular approach feels revolutionary. a total language of 108, a number representative of Born in 1983, Satt began his artistic career in 2005 infinity in Buddhism. as a performance artist, a powerful medium chosen A more recent work, Hands Around Yangon for pragmatic reasons. With little institutional or (2012) is a video of close-ups of people’s hands at commercial support, in addition to buying their own work scraping coconuts, binding books, worrying materials, Satt says artists here have to rent beads, grinding cane sugar, out gallery space themselves to counting money and countless display physical works. In one of “ In a country where monks wield other quotidian actions. Again the most impoverished nations in the underlying inspiration the region, public performances are considerable power, and thekyline is Buddhism, but what is simply cheaper. observed is its more colloquial Consequently, Satt’s apartment, a is dominated by the Shwedagon counterpart—gestures that are two-room sixth floor walk-up that handy, not holy. he rents from his sister, contains Pagoda, a 99-meter-tall pyramid Satt’s father is Muslim and no obvious art materials, though his mother is Buddhist; there’s his bookshelf holds a selection of of gold topped with thousands of a small Buddhist shrine on the art books and catalogues in English wall of his home, but he himself diamonds and rubies, Satt’s secular and various other languages. is not religious. He jokingly Instead there’s a futon on the floor approach feels revolutionary.” complains to his wife about not and diapers and stuffed toys for his being able to eat the offerings 14-month old son, whose name she prepares for Buddha. Why means “alphabet”. Born Si Thu Tan does she feed her god before feeding her husband? Naing, Satt’s own name is a pseudonym (many artists In a country where monks wield considerable take them in Myanmar) meaning “rain drop”. He power, and the skyline is dominated by the chose it because he was born in July, which is rainy
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The winner of the HBAAP will receive an award of 300,000 RMB ($50,000) to develop their practice. Some artists nominated for the award are already making that kind of money from their exhibitions. For Satt, the prize would mean a measure of personal financial security. If he wins, he says he’ll spend it on achieving middle-class pursuits: $30,000 on an apartment, $10,000 on a car and $10,000 on daily life. Satt has already debated his chances with some of the other nominees: Huang Po-Chih (Taiwan), Vandy Rattana (Cambodia), Yang Xinguang (China), Maria Taniguchi (Philippines) and Guan Xiao (China). Will the judges prefer to award the prize to a female artist this time? Will it go to someone more established? Will Myanmar’s historic national elections, held on November 8 and won by Nobel Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), play into Satt’s hands? With the election in mind, thought to be the freest in over 50 years, Satt extended his artist’s sign language through the work Five Questions to the Society where I Live (2015), also on display at the Rockbund. A neon on aluminum sign with fiberglass casts of hand gestures asks the questions “R U [okay]?”, “R U [good]?” and “R U [pro-peace]?” Satt also uses the mockingjay sign from The Hunger Games to ask the question “R U [against the junta?].” The fifth question, “R U [voting]”, is represented by a raised little finger. Satt posted a picture of himself with a red little finger on his Facebook page after voting in the general elections, showing the colored dye that prevents people from illegally voting multiple times. He says it took two days to wash off.
Political sensitivities in Satt’s work also make performance art, which is ephemeral and often camouflaged in symbolism, a prudent choice for the artist, though it’s certainly not without risk. Activist and performance artist Htein Lin, one of Satt’s obvious forebears, spent almost seven years behind bars under the junta from 1998-2004, secretly painting works on prison uniforms and carving them out of bars of soap. The largest component of Satt’s exhibition at Rockbund is an installation of 15 traditional Burmese wood and silk umbrellas, each 2.5 meters in diameter. In previous performances Satt carried such an umbrella torn to shreds. For the work Like Umbrella, Like King (2015), the umbrellas have been cut but repaired with zippers, suggesting a cautious optimism; zippers suggest both a country being restored and the potential for progress to be undone again. Results were released slowly over the week following the election, when I visited, with the NLD finally confirming they had the numbers to form a government on Saturday, November 14. Rumors of a celebration outside the NLD headquarters that night came to nothing—everyone is waiting to see what happens next. Winning the Hugo Boss Asia Art award would be a huge boost to Satt’s career, though it pales in comparison to the opportunities presented by a truly free country.
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left/middle Like Umbrealla, Like King 2015
right Five Questions to the Society where I Live 2015
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