Art Exhibition: How to quantify FEAR?
By Filmmaker M, Photographer Mauk Kham Wah, and Artist Mayco Naing
During Myanmar’s revolution, three Burmese artists explore the ways in which the resistance binds, shapes, and informs who Myanmar people are. Filmmaker M, Mauk Kham Wah and Mayco Naing have witnessed the people's resistance to military rule through their camera lenses. The exhibition includes a 60-minute documentary screening* by filmmaker M, a photography exhibition by Mauk Kham Wah featuring 10 portraits of protesters and 10 photos of anti-coup fighters as well as landscapes and portraits from Mayco Naing’s barricade project.
Filmmaker M started filming on the morning of the military coup for over 177 days from various hiding places. At the same time, Mauk Kham Wah documented the teargassing and crackdowns from the frontlines of the street protests, where the resistance was born. He then followed his comrades to the jungle and documented their lives at war for over a year and a half. Artist Mayco Naing spent 50 days on the barricades, shooting people's portraits. She captured the suffering, tears, fury and determination in the protestors' eyes.
* 177 by Filmmaker M, screening during business hours from 28 July to 10 August, in the Auditorium.
ARTISTS
M is a filmmaker of ethnic minority background from a conflict-ridden region in Myanmar. They lived and worked abroad before settling in Yangon. After democratic changes a decade ago, they dedicated themselves to filmmaking. M's artistic activities have brought them to various film festivals around the world.
Mauk Kham Wah is a photographer, filmmaker and activist from Myanmar. Following the military coup in Myanmar on 1 February 2021, Mauk Kham Wah spent a year alongside the young Karenni men and women who joined the resistance against the Burmese military dictatorship, where he witnessed fighting, comradeship, and grief.
Mayco Naing's work first focused on the generation of Burmese born around the time of the 1988 revolution, raised with little education, conservative values, and coming of age under a repressive military regime. For her, art is not merely a medium through which she questions the state of Burmese society, it is also a tool to change women’s place in society. During the 1st February 2021 coup, Mayco immediately took to the streets to capture people on the barricades. Mayco and her comrades were pursued by the military junta for having exercised their photojournalistic work. Many were arrested, others are on the run, and Mayco is hosted in an artist residency, far from her home and loved ones.
This exhibition is supported by the ANU Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs' Department of Political and Social Change. It is one of the pre-conference events of the 2023 Myanmar Update and will be on display during business hours from 21 July to 10 August 2023. We hope to see you there!
Photo Credit: Mauk Kham Wah