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Launch of Exhibition “Never Give Up: 2 Years into the Myanmar Coup” – Part II
25 February, 2023 @ 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm
Art Exhibition “Never Give Up: 2 Years into the Myanmar Coup” – Part II will be launched with a panel discussion “Resistance Art” on 25 February 2023, 5.30-7.00 pm at SEA Junction, 4th floor, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC). The exhibition is on display from 21 February to 5 March 2023 on the curved wall, 3rd floor of the BACC.
Speakers
- Myanmar Artist [Online]
- Zaw Moe, Country Manager, Asia Justice and Rights (AJAR)
- Thet Swe Win, Executive Director, Synergy Social Harmony Organization
- Jarunan Phantachat, Co-Founder, B-Floor Theatre
Moderator: Dr. Rosalia Sciortino, Founder and Executive Director, SEA Junction
Speakers’ Profile
Zaw Moe was a student activist in 1996 and 2007. He was arrested in 2008 and sentenced to 18 years imprisonment, then released in 2013. He joined AAPP after the imprisonment and working on truth seeking and documentation, and transitional Justice. He is a former Executive Committee Member of AAPP. He is currently at Asia Justice and rights as a country manager and specially focusing on Transitional Justice for Burma.
Thet Swe Win is a human rights activist who has led numerous campaigns to counter hate speech, Buddhist nationalism, and anti-Muslim and anti-Rohingya discrimination and violence. He is also the founder and executive director of Synergy – Social Harmony Organization, which seeks to strengthen social cohesion in Myanmar.
Jarunan Phantachat is an award-winning actor, playwright, director and producer. She is also a founding member of the critically acclaimed B-Floor Theatre company. She has acted in and directed numerous in-house productions as well as performed with other local and international companies. Her directorial works include “I Say Mingalaba, You Say Goodbye,” inspired by parallel pro-democracy movements in Thailand and Myanmar.
Exhibition Description
The 1st of February 2023 marks the second anniversary of military dictatorship in Myanmar. Since the coup, people have suffered under the repressive military rule in a collapsed state. They have experienced daily violation of rights, war crimes and crimes against humanity, murder, sexual violence, and torture. By December 2022, the United Nations estimated that there were 1.5 million displaced people; 34,000 destroyed homes; villages burned to the ground; a looming food crisis; and 140,000 Rohingya in de facto internment camps while others suffer deprivation and discrimination rooted in their lack of citizenship. In addition to the trauma inflicted in people, the military coup has “crippled Myanmar’s economy”, as millions have lost their incomes, the national currency has plummeted, and prices have surged.
And despite it all, people have continued to fight for justice. Since the early days of the military coup, people’s response against the military has been unapologetic: pot-banging, ribbon wearing, being silent, joining the civil disobedience movement, clasping hands during peaceful protests, making opposition art works in multiple forms, or raising the three-finger salute. These are just a fraction of the many acts of civil disobedience despite the collective terror suffered. A nation-wide revolutionary project has started that cuts across diverse age, socio-economic and identity groups, including an assertion of the rights of those who have been left at the margins ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities. The message is the same: Never give up!
Honoring this spirit of creativity and resilience, the two-part art exhibitions “Never Give Up: 2 Years into the Myanmar Coup” gather artworks by Myanmar artists from Doh Hlay, a digital art platform and movement that inspires a conversation about rights and justice. This is the second part, following the first one at the end of January 2023. Curated by Lattapol Jirapathomsakul and Rosalia Sciortino, the exhibition reflects on the ongoing tyranny and its violent manifestations while stressing the centrality of human rights as well as their vision and hopes for a new just future for Myanmar.
For more information, please email: southeastasiajunction@gmail.com
or phone/wa/signal/line: +66970024140
Organizers
SEA Junction, established under the Thai non-profit organization 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 economy 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 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 and Instagram @seajunction
Doh Hlay is a digital platform and movement that inspires a conversation about rights and justice in Myanmar through critical thinking and creative forms of expression. The movement aims to inspire and to set in motion a conversation related to rights and to contribute to the future of justice in the country. Doh Hlay is a collective of artists and human rights defenders coming together to amplify different perspectives, voices and everyday experiences to promote dialogue on Myanmar’s past, present and future. For more information, see https://www.dohhlay.com and https://www.facebook.com/dohhlaymm.
