Special Exhibitions

Youth Power & Symbols: The Myanmar Spring Lives On

Organized by: SEA Junction with BACC pop⋅up
Selected by: Special project’s BACC pop⋅up
Principal Supporter: Seacon Development Co., Ltd.
Media Partner: GroundControl

Within a matter of days of the February 1, 2021 military coup d’état, youths and older people from all walks of life began to pour onto the streets in outrage and protest against the military. Since then, for almost four years now, the population has been demanding the restoration of democracy and the release of the imprisoned leaders and all other political prisoners in spite of the military’s use of lethal force. According to the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners, as of October 2024, 5,909 people have been confirmed killed by the junta and a total of 27,612 people have been arrested, with 21,062 currently detained and 169 people have been sentenced to death. 573 children have been arrested and 655 children killed. The number of displaced people in the country and across borders is over 3 million and growing. Amidst the failure of the international community to respond and take action, people are not giving up, continuing their support for the opposition National Unity Government (NUG) in exile. Many young people have taken up arms and joined the armed struggle as a last recourse against dictatorship, counting on the armed resistance by the People Defence Force and the Ethnic Armies to gain ground and eventually win the revolution. 

The revolutionists’ defiant opposition is celebrated by the photo art series featured in the exhibition of documentary photographer Ta Mwe (pseudonym) and art photographer Lily (pseudonym). In particular, Lily’s “Forever Young” twin series of photo-collage portraits of Gen Z protesters commend their struggle to saving their country from dictatorship.  Awash in red, the portraits are remarkably absent. The real faces and identities of the protesters are hidden in a discomfiting chaos, in some instances obscured by delicate spring flowers, in others by guns and bullets. In parallel, Ta Mwe, in his photo documentary series “Symbols of Presence” (originally titled “Flowers of Spring”), highlights how protesters manifest their commitment to freedom and democracy through body art amidst the backdrop of the military’s crackdown on protests and suppression of free speech. Their tattoos of political symbols express their commitment to freedom and democracy, despite the risks of being imprisoned by the military and/or having the tattoos burned. Together, the two artists’ series stress that Myanmar’s Spring Revolution lives on in the face of continued atrocities by the military regime. 

Organizer 

The exhibition is organized and curated by SEA Junction in collaboration with BACC pop•up

SEA Junction, located at Room 407-8 of the BACC, aims to foster understanding and appreciation of Southeast Asia in all its socio-cultural dimensions, from arts and lifestyles to economy and development (see seajunction.org)