Chronicles

Oil on canvas, 120x90cm
 

This painting pays tribute to the Burmese civil disobedience movement following the military coup of February 2021. At its center, a woman stands defiantly with two children, facing the military. She raises the three-finger salute—borrowed from The Hunger Games and adopted as a powerful symbol of resistance across Myanmar.

The boy beside her holds a pot, echoing the nightly pot-banging protests traditionally used to drive away evil spirits—now repurposed to drive out the military regime. Surrounding them, women’s clothes hang like silent barricades. In Burmese superstition, conservative beliefs held that passing beneath women’s garments could weaken men—an idea used strategically by female protestors to slow soldiers during crackdowns.

Behind the figures looms the golden Shwedagon Pagoda, a sacred symbol in Yangon, anchoring the scene in spiritual and cultural resilience. The number three is repeated throughout the composition in reference to the salute, while four soldiers symbolize death, drawing from Chinese numerology—and a nod to the Burmese military's ties to China.

On the fabric, a defiant verse is inscribed: “They shoot at heads but they don’t know revolution lives in the heart.” These words, written by poet Khet Thi before his torture and death, echo the spirit of resistance, sacrifice, and enduring hope that inspired this work.

Oil on canvas on carved and painted wood
 

"A Glimpse of a Life" is a personal piece—a portrait of my grandmother as a young woman, reimagined from an old black-and-white photograph. By infusing the image with colors, I sought to transform a faded memory into a vivid presence. 

The hand-carved wooden frame is inspired by Viking stave church ornamentation. The intertwining patterns evoke the continuity of life and memory, as well as the cyclical nature of time. At the top of the frame, a carved eye serves as a symbol of watchfulness and ancestral presence—suggesting that memory is not static, but living.

Oil on canvas, 50x40cm

Oil on canvas, 30x30cm