Freedom from Within: A Burmese artist at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery

Earlier this year Htein Lin, one of Burma’s leading contemporary artists, visited Brighton Museum & Art Gallery to demonstrate his printmaking techniques. The event – Freedom from Within – was organised by the Pansodan Gallery (Yangon) in partnership with the museum.

A Dharma School pupil making a print using string, fingers and a CD.

Htein Lin spent the morning leading a workshop with children from the Dharma Primary School. First he showed them the variety of materials that he uses for print making. For example, he covered one side of a blank compact disc with acrylic paint. Then he made patterns on it with his fingers before pressing the CD onto cloth. The revealed print drew admiring noises from the children who were then inspired to produce their own prints.

After making colourful prints on individual pieces of cloth, everyone participated in making one big piece. First, the children used objects and their fingers to paint patterns onto a large piece of vinyl cloth.

A group effort at printmaking

Then Htein Lin placed a large white cloth on top of the painted surface and everyone patted it down enthusiastically.

When the cloth was lifted off, the image was printed on the cloth – as shown below.

At the end of the session the children sang a Buddhist song of thanks to Htein Lin.

Htein Lin and his assistant show the finished piece.

In the afternoon Htein Lin gave an inspirational and moving talk about his life in Burma [Myanmar]. An activist during and after the 1988 democracy demonstrations, he spent four years in the jungle and suffered some terrible experiences. In 1998 he was falsely charged with planning opposition protests and was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Htein Lin wasn’t allowed any writing or painting materials in prison.  Instead he used whatever materials he could get: syringes, his fingers, cigarette lighters, carved soap and smuggled-in paints. Inmates donated old uniforms for him to uses as canvases.

When he was released six and a half years later, Htein Lin had created over 200 artworks.

Htein Lin creating a T-shirt

Now Htein Lin is an established artist and lives in London. He practises painting, writing and performance art. Following his talk at the museum, Htein Lin helped a group of adults create their own printed T-shirts.

At the end of the day Htein Lin donated a T-shirt to Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, which he had designed during the session.

The T-shirt reflects the style of printing Htein Lin developed while imprisoned. The figures pictured in the design are in the ‘Ponsantain’ position; an uncomfortable physical pose which prisoners had to assume during inspections.

Lucy Faithful, Assistant Curator of World Art

Htein Lin displays the finished T-shirt

T-shirt detail showing the uncomfortable position of the prisoners

Museum project highlights cultural group under attack

Work undertaken by Brighton Museum & Art Gallery with members of the Kachin community, an ethnic minority group based in North East Burma, is under threat as a 17-year ceasefire between the Burmese government and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) descends into warfare.

Brighton Museum & Art Gallery is an important repository for objects and images relating to Kachin cultural history, including hundreds of photographic images taken in the area in the 1920s and an important textile collection. Since 1996 the Museum has been working, through grassroots organisations in Burma and the United Kingdom, to extend the collection through research, publication, commissioning and new collecting.

Some of this partnership work is to feature in a new World Stories gallery opening at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery in June as part of the Cultural Olympiad for the London 2012 Olympic Games. The gallery will include objects and images associated with the manau, a festival of huge cultural importance to the Kachin community.

Crowds at the Namhkyek Manau, 1920s

Dance leaders (naushawng) at a manau in Kachin State, 2011

Dancing around the manau posts at a manau in Kachin State, 2011

Kachin officers in the Indian Army with James Henry Green, 1920s

The intense fighting in Kachin State and Northern Shan State erupted on 9 June 2011 and has displaced more than 15,000 people. Conditions for refugees are very poor and there are accusations of human rights abuses against Kachin civilians by Burmese soldiers. These conditions are being exacerbated by the weather – it is rainy season in the region – and a lack of international recognition and support. The situation is likely to worsen as the Burmese government prepares for a full-scale offensive against the minority Kachin army in the north of the country. Latest reports on the situation can be found on the Kachin News website .

The Kachin Relief Fund – established by the UK Kachin community – is seeking to provide refugees with food, shelter and medical supplies. Donations can be made via The Kachin Relief Fund, 52 Langry Court, Lanadron Close, Isleworth, TW7 5GB. Phone: +44 771 55906 88. Email: KachinAID@gmail.com. Or directly to “The Kachin Relief Fund”, HSBC Bank plc., Sort Code:40-25-02, Account :6245 3320

Helen Mears, Keeper of World Art

Soe Naing, Burmese Artist

Thanks to the 2011 Brighton Festival which has positioned Burma as a central point of focus, the people of Brighton and visitors alike are currently being offered a wonderful insight in to Burma– its culture, people and politics. Within this context I would like to highlight some works of art by a Burmese artist called Soe Naing, whose art expresses the very spirit of Burma.

The World Art collection at Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove includes a small but vibrant collection of Soe Naing’s drawings, paintings and papercuts all of which express his creativity and energy. His paintings are populated by strange and often sinister creatures which appear to incorporate both human and animal forms. These oddly hybrid creatures were inspired by mythological creatures seen by the artist in temple wall paintings in the ancient city of Bagan, but in my opinion, the style in which they are painted gives them an almost child-like innocence.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Soe Naing’s use of vivid colours and visible brushstrokes invest his paintings with a real sense of energy and spontaneity. Amongst these brightly-coloured brushstrokes he also creates inky, black, calligraphic marks which give the impression of facial features, claws, ears, talons and tongues. Along with colour you can see that the expressive quality of line is important to Soe Naing. Every brushstroke is applied with a sense of urgency and this is also the case with his pencil drawings. These appear to have been made impulsively as if the artist were drawing automatically, without considered planning.

I absolutely love Soe Naing’s work because his style is so unique, full of energy, and has a childlike quality to it which gives it such originality. 

Royal Pavilion & Museums is grateful for the assistance of Networking & Initiatives for Culture & the Arts (NICA) in acquiring these works.

Sarah Cook World Art volunteer