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“Fragmentation: A Photo Exhibition by Nyein Chan Aung”
4 March, 2025 - 16 March, 2025
The education situation in Burma (Myanmar) has been severely disrupted by ongoing political instability and conflict, particularly following the military coup in February 2021. Many students and teachers have participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), refusing to attend or operate under military-run institutions, leading to a parallel system of learning developed by the National Unity Government and local communities. Moreover, the conflict has displaced thousands, making access to education even more challenging in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps and remote areas, where resources are scarce, and conditions are not conducive to learning. This upheaval has exacerbated pre-existing challenges in educational equity, quality, and accessibility, leaving a generation of Burmese youth at risk of losing educational opportunities and facing uncertain futures.
The photo exhibition by New Burma in collaboration with SEA Junction on 4- 16 March in the Curved Wall, 5th Floor, BACC, displays photos by Nyein Chan Aung, as a tribute to school teachers who, as part of the CDM, continue to live as fractured beings in the IDP camps of Karenni State. It seeks to illuminate the resilience of these individuals—people who have lost much but still carry the unyielding spark of resistance within them. Through their stories, we witness not just the tragedy of displacement, but the unbreakable will to educate, to nurture, and to keep alive the ideals of freedom and justice, even from the deepest of human suffering. This exhibition does not only document their struggle; it amplifies their voices reminding us that even in the most dire of circumstances, fragments can still form a whole, and hope can still emerge from the ashes.
The exhibition will be launched with an opening event on 4 March at 6 pm at SEA Junction, featuring a panel discussion titled “Where are the Schools?: Education in Fragility.” This panel will explore how educators, communities, and non-governmental organizations are adapting to current challenges in Burma. The discussion will highlight the creativity and determination of the Burmese people and the significant hardships faced by students and teachers; delve into the psychological and social impacts of these educational disruptions on children; consider the long-term implications for a generation that might miss out on formal education and for Burma’s future; and explore strategies for addressing these educational gaps taking into account the current conflict.
Photographer Bio
Nyein Chan Aung is a street photographer from Yangon, Burma who started as a photographer to document urban life’s unadulterated beauty and soul. Combining his sense of detail and passion for storytelling, he began documenting his city’s rich diversity of traditions, customs, and daily life. Due to the coup in Myanmar in 2021, he moved to the Karenni State in 2024 where he began taking documentary photographs in the region of war, capturing images of several lives—those of people defenders, teachers, internally displaced individuals, and those in conflict zones. In terms of photography, he is interested in documenting people’s lives and hardships, such as those of children, young people, and grassroots fighting for their natural rights throughout the current revolution.
For more information, please email: info@seajunction.org or phone/wa: +66970024140
NB: The exhibition and the opening event are free, but donations are welcome to support SEA Junction and New Burma activities.
Organizers
A New Burma (ANB) is a collective committed to promoting creative resistance, advocacy, and social movements to champion the rights of marginalized communities in Burma. With a focus on non-violent tactics, ANB collaborates with the creative community to turn innovation and activism into advocacy tools against human rights violations. ANB provides training to pro-democracy leaders and activists, enhance the creative resistance movement with resources and techniques, and create civic spaces using arts and digital platforms in restrictive environments. Founded by individuals in exile, ANB values the profound role of shared creativity and community in shaping identities and giving meaning to life beyond mere survival. ANB’s philosophy of Creative Resistance is about more than opposing oppression; it involves collectively envisioning and constructing a new, democratic and inclusive future for all who consider Burma their home.
SEA Junction
SEA Junction, established under the Thai non-profit organisation Foundation for Southeast Asia Studies (ForSEA), aims to foster understanding and appreciation of Southeast Asia in all its socio-cultural dimensions, from arts and lifestyles to human rights, gender, migration and development. Conveniently located at Room 407-8 of the Bangkok Arts and Culture Center or BACC (across MBK, BTS National Stadium), SEA Junction facilitates public education and access to knowledge resources and exchanges among students, practitioners and Southeast Asia lovers. For more information, see www.seajunction.org, join the Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/1693058870976440/ and follow us on Twitter (X), Bluesky and Instagram @seajunction
