Fostering contemporary art in Myanmar
By Aung Ko

This article is a part of CHECK-IN 2024, our annual publication, which comes in at 313 pages this year. You can buy a limited-edition print copy at SGD38 here.

'My Own Words' is a monthly series which features personal essays by practitioners in the Southeast Asian art community. They deliberate on their locality's present circumstances, articulating observations and challenges in their respective roles.

Participants from the 1st Thuyédan Village Art Project, 2007. Image courtesy of Aung Ko and Nge Lay.

The thing I would like to begin with is that artistic reaction is a response to society. It can be said that the development in contemporary art of our country is slower than the others in Southeast Asia. When we look back at the history of art in Myanmar, we would see that, for many years, it lingered in the techniques of eastern traditional outlines, as well as western academic realism, both modern and postmodern. Sculptures were also created in only traditional methods. It can be said that contemporary art, together with performance art, started in Myanmar in 1990.

At the time, the country was closed and Myanmar artists were rarely invited to participate in international exhibitions. So the first Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale (1999), organised by Fukuoka Asian Art Museum every three years, was pivotal for us. Three Myanmar artists participated in that edition and among them, Po Po is surely a good representative of Myanmar contemporary art. Then after 1999, those who are part of “the new generations” came into prominence and they brought a variety of concepts and types of artworks to the field of international art.

This is a brief introduction to Myanmar contemporary art. Being under severe government rule for many years, we struggle to make progress. Artistic creation, much like the thoughts of regular citizens, is held back by such conditions.

Censorship is difficult to deal with too. Next, we have a weak relationship with other countries and rarely exchange information by means of advanced technology. Therefore, the foreign countries may not know the creations and performances of local contemporary artists.

Group photo of Thuyédan Village Art Project 1 participants taken at Aung Ko’s parents' home, Thuyédan village, 2007. Image courtesy of Aung Ko and Nge Lay.

Thus, in 2005, I started thinking of an alternative way of creating art. I intended to work out the following:

To be able to create contemporary and other types of art freely without censorship.
To have an opportunity in which the artists are able to keep in touch with basic society.
To build genuine rapport between the artists and society, and in that way, we can create a positive impact on each other.
To express freely in public spaces which are suitable for art-making but difficult to obtain permission due to strict rules and laws in the city.
To have the opportunity to use certain materials which are high in price, hard to find, and difficult to transport in urban areas.
To have the chance to help people in the rural area, young and old, for their social matters, health and scope of knowledge.
To let the artists know the changes of the environment in the villages each year and let us support or help them in their daily living as much as we can.
To guide the kids in the village in choosing their future careers and lifestyles by sharing the knowledge they need.
To educate participants on social issues in Myanmar and other countries, through the process of collaborating on performance works.
To exchange concepts, skills, knowledge through workshops by engaging with the young villagers and local experts in handiworks.
To bring out the green-horns from the village who have talent in art or other fields into the light, and help them to have a place in city life and the international art field.
To support the youths with our best effort to become the future artists, intellectuals, experts or leaders of the country.

The 12 points mentioned above are aimed at making art meet common society. However, these intentions have not been announced to the public. Since 2007, by inviting some artists, I have been taking action to create events in my hometown where my parents live, which is more than 150 miles away from Yangon, and requires nine hours to reach. Initially, the event was called the Thuyédan Event, after my village, but in 2009, it was changed to Thuyédan Village Art Project. From 2007 to 2013, it was held five times with invited local artists from every field of art.

In 2008, we did not organise the event because of my poor budget. My wife, the artist Nge Lay, and I work hard to save our income for an entire year to hold each successful edition, and we do so without the support of international foundations. I made paintings while Nge Lay worked as a senior jewellery designer for a company. We invited local artists to create their art works, freely as they wished and introduced them to the village. The artists stayed at my parents’ house and we prepared meals during their time here. However, I was unable to provide transportation, materials and professional fees.

Sue Myint Thein working on his artwork for Thuyédan Village Art Project 5, 2013. Image courtesy of Nge Lay.

Aung Ko’s engagement with village school students as part of Thuyédan Village Art Project 2, 2009. Image courtesy of Aung Ko and Nge Lay.

I also could not invite the international artists to the project yet because of the political situation in Myanmar. The reason is that the country’s military industries, where weapons are produced, are near my home village. So it is a forbidden zone for foreigners. No foreigners can stop for even a night. Cameras are not allowed to be used there, and if someone is caught, he or she will be charged according to the law. Despite the restrictions, I feel lucky that the local people kept us safe during our stays in the village.

Thuyédan Village Art Project was held every year in January. But the duration varied depending on the amount of time the artists took to create their works. They could create artworks concerned with nature at locations such as on sand banks, near the river etc. We received help from the villagers and the youths, even school kids. Some of them volunteered yearly, and sometimes, we also hired the local experts in handiwork and guides to bring us around. We could buy and use natural products we needed easily from them too. Meanwhile, the artists and villagers got to know each other better and could share life experiences and knowledge.

Aung Ko, ‘Hum…m…m’, 2007, documentation of performance and installation at Ayeyarwaddy River, Thuyédan village, Myanmar. Image courtesy of the artist.

Akauk Taung, Tonbo township, photo taken during Thuyédan Village Art Project 2, 2009. Image courtesy of Aung Ko and Nge Lay.

Long ago, when we asked young children what they would do when they grow up, they would easily answer that they wished to work in neighbouring countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. Then during the Thuyédan Village Art Project period, most of the children started to answer that they wanted to be artists. Although they probably do not understand what being an artist meant at such a young age, at least they are familiar with the word “artist”. My mother is a school teacher and she runs a small shop at the school together with my father. Therefore, the kids are often exposed to visiting artists when they search for suitable locations for their artworks.

Thuyédan, the name of my village, actually means “Hero Place”. In the east, there is Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) River, the biggest and the longest one in Myanmar. In the west, there is the Rakhine Mountain Range, not far from India. The villagers work as the fishermen, lumberjacks, coal bakers, hunters, and farmers to earn their living. Nowadays, natural environmental products that have been taken and used by villagers become increasingly rare day by day, as is daily work. The area of the village is becoming smaller and smaller because of the floods and landslides caused by Ayeyarwady River. Local youths do not continue with traditional farming, but go to the nearby countries, which further reduces the human resources in the village. Due to the damage caused by landslides, ancient religious buildings, the statues of Buddha and other valuable sites are also becoming lost as time goes by.

Thuyédan Village Art Project 3, group photo taken in front of Aung Ko’s parent’s house, 2010. Image courtesy of Aung Ko and Nge Lay.

Thuyédan Village Art Project 5, 2013. Image courtesy of Aung Ko and Nge Lay.

Artists who participated in the project are familiar with these changes and they are trying to give back. Now the library is there to widen the residents’ scope of knowledge. But our attempt is a modest on. We go there, and do what we can. Initially, the villagers do not understand the art, but they have since grown familiar with our works and now have the ability to cooperate.

Having grown up in the village, far from the city and becoming an artist, I know how to communicate with them. I know the environment, as well as understand their feelings and wishes. Just as our artworks are changed through these exchanges, so are their everyday lives, memories, and relationships with the natural environment.

Thuyédan Village Art Project 5, group photo, 2013. Image courtesy of Aung Ko and Nge Lay.

We did not have enough budget to organise the project in 2012. There was also no website to spread information about the project, or to ask for money. If you ask me, “Then, what is the reward?” I am ready with the answer. That is the trust and friendship between the villagers and artists gained through the project. Most of the participating artists made photo and video documentations of their artworks in the village. And through this portfolio of works, some of us were invited to participate in international art exhibitions.

Po Po working on a dry paddy field in Thuyédan village, 2011. Image courtesy of Moe Lwin Han.

Po Po, ‘Zebra cross’, 2011, charcoal, paddy field, site specific installation responding to Thuyédan village landscape. Image courtesy of Moe Lwin Han.

Of course, we want to organise the project every year. The villagers and I hope to get an opportunity to create art works together with not only new local artists but also international ones. Thuyédan is also the hometown of General Myint Aung, one of the thirty comrades who underwent training in Japan with General Leader Aung San. That is why I have no intention to stop the project even though I have had many difficulties each year. As an artist from this village, I think it is an appropriate commemoration for the heroes in our country. I want to make my country better through art, starting from my village, because I believe that the artist is a kind of the leader of the country. And who knows if one of the youths in the village will be the leader who can change the country’s future for the better?

This essay was written from 2007 to 2013, and edited in 2024 with the assistance of Ian Tee.

This article is a part of CHECK-IN 2024, our annual publication, which comes in at 313 pages this year. You can buy a limited-edition print copy at SGD38 here.

Read our interview with Aung Ko and Nge Lay here as part of A&M’s ‘Midpoint’ series, where they discuss their move to Paris in 2022, their residency at the Musée d'Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne (MAC VAL) and La Cité des Arts, as well as their recent and past works.