Karin Weber Gallery is proud to introduce ‘Myanmar Voices: We Are Still Here’, an online exhibition which highlights the resilience and fortitude of Myanmar’s contemporary artists. Curated by Southeast Asian modern and contemporary art scholar Melissa Carlson, this exhibition is another milestone in our twenty-plus year history of showcasing art from Myanmar.
‘Myanmar Voices: We Are Still Here’ celebrates the high-quality artistic production from Myanmar that is ongoing despite the current political turmoil. The show elevates the voices of Myanmar’s creative community and reminds viewers that life and art prevail and evolve, regardless of the current news cycle. Each of the artworks in the show are records of transactions between individuals and a nation, a push and a pull of expectations and big dreams, and each piece reminds us that creativity abounds, and artistic production perseveres in times of adversity.
Participating artists rank amongst Myanmar’s most compelling and work across a range of mediums, including painting, drawings, graffiti, and photography. The artists, including Aung Myint, Min Wae Aung, Soe Yu Nwe, Khin Thethtar Latt (‘Nora’), Kaung Su, and Bart Was Not Here, represent multiple generations of creative voices who push the boundaries of visual representations for Myanmar’s past, present, and future.
Today, artists in Myanmar face renewed challenges in both creating and exhibiting their artwork. Artists must overcome daily infrastructure obstacles, such as power-cuts, to more extreme issues of personal safety. Nevertheless, these artists continue to create and produce artwork in spite of adversity.
Karin Weber Gallery acknowledges the challenges artists face in joining our exhibition during this unprecedented time. Some of them have expressed a wish to remain anonymous amid renewed restrictions on freedom of expression. We remain in awe of their resilience. We are also grateful for the support of a gallery and curator in Yangon; this show would not be possible without their dedication to promoting the best of Myanmar’s modern and contemporary artists abroad.
It is our responsibility to support our long-standing gallery artists from Myanmar through this challenging time, and to also welcome new talents in this exhibition, such as Bart Was Not Here and Soe Yu Nwe. What resonates with us is how each of these artists, even under conditions of instability, produce such meaningful work that speaks to a defiant vision of Myanmar’s future.
Curator Melissa Carlson notes, “In the wake of the February 1, 2021 coup d’état, Myanmar’s contemporary artists are processing and responding to the changes around them through their canvases and camera lenses, and they are continuing a long-standing tradition in Myanmar of artists shaping the course of the nation’s future through their art.”
