Messenger in the Dark

By THE IRRAWADDY

Fear follows Burmese artists even when they venture abroad, according to the leading painter Chaw Ei Thein.

The self-censorship they practice within Burma persists even when artists work and exhibit outside the country, she told The Irrawaddy in an interview.

“We always take into account that we have to return home,” Chaw Ei Thein said.

The pioneering artist—one of the organizers of Burma’s first collection of work by mentally handicapped people, in 2000—has participated in international exhibitions. She mounted her third solo exhibition last month, at the Balance Art Gallery in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, with the title “In This Dark and Closed Space.”

A reporter for The Irrawaddy visited the exhibition and interviewed Chaw Ei Thein.

Question: Almost every painting in this exhibition looks pessimistic…

Answer: I was wondering when I was working on these paintings if they were more pessimistic than optimistic. I thought that what I offered as art or what I wanted to say to my audiences could make them depressed or disappointed. But I couldn't avoid that. I just wanted to do it. In fact, it was a time when I felt dejected. I knew that I felt dejected. Although I thought there were ways to escape that feeling, I just felt dejected.

Q: Is the reason that you felt dejected related to politics?

A: Of course, nobody can avoid politics. So the situation of my own country impacts everybody, including artists like me.

Q: I saw some installation art here. Tell me about it.

A: If you paint on canvas, you have a frame or limitation. I cannot present something that I want to say. Maybe I am not that skillful. So one day I wondered how I could present without painting. I found a pot at the market and got an idea to create a work of art using domestic utensils. I observed the sunlight shining on the pot. I found a spot of sunlight inside the pot and that gave me an idea to paint. It solved my problem. I got the idea to paint inside the pot. The next day, while I was painting downstairs, I looked at the ground to ease my eyes and saw some small stones. I found some facets on the stones. At that time, in fact, I was painting some faces on the inside surface of the pot. So I picked up a stone, washed it and painted faces on its surface. I liked it very much. As the faces are not symmetric, the expressions of these faces also became automatically different. And then, I washed them and painted on them. That can also be called installation art. It is mixed media.

Q: I noticed that you used some body parts, such as faces, hands or legs in your
paintings or performance. Why?

A: I also asked myself that question. I liked these parts of the body. To confess, the first thing that influences me is that I like tattoos very much. So I paint body parts on faces or hands when I present performance art. The meaning is simple. I am not alone. When my hands stretch out, they are not alone. A lot of people are stretching their hands out. They are not formal anatomy.

Q: How do you assess the freedom of creating art in Burma?

A: To be truthful, there is no freedom to create art inside or outside the country. Some might think that they are free outside [Burma]. As for me, I don't feel free, no matter whether I am inside or outside. That is my problem. When I was outside the country for the first time, I thought that I was free and free to do anything. But fear rode piggyback. So before anybody censored our art, we censored ourselves. We always take into account that we have to return home.

Q: What do you think of the creative arts in Burma as a performance or installation artist?

A: It is surprising that although artists in our country have many kinds of difficulties, like connection, as compared to those in other countries, art— especially paintings—can compete with other countries better than other art, such as literature or film. It does not lag behind. We artists have nobody to support us. We are on our own. But we can overtake other people despite different kinds of difficulties.

Q: You teach children. Why do you choose to teach children painting?

A: Painting provides creative and critical thinking for children. I know its importance through my father (artist Maung Maung Thein) since I was young. And I like teaching. I like painting. So it is part of my hobby and I stick to it.

Q: What is the difference between children in Burma and those abroad? How do their opportunities differ?

A: Opportunities are different, very different. If the system is good, a lot of people under that good system will be better off. If the system is not good, people will have trouble. There is no opportunity inside the country [Burma]. There is a difference in self confidence. There are some art lessons in Burma's schools. But they are just for competition, just for one show. There are some lessons in the curriculum but they are not systematic. The whole system is not updated.

Q: A painting of yours about the September 2007 uprising is close to realism. Why did you include that painting among your expressionist work?

A: Ah! In fact, I was not there when it [the uprising] broke out. I was in China, presenting performance art. I knew something [of the uprising] from the Internet. It hurt my heart and soul. It was an original photo of a monk and soldiers in the foreground. You can see some heads and guns. I want to fill them in in black.

Q: Finally, tell me about this exhibition.

A: The most important thing I would like to say is that I want to let people feel what I am feeling about the present situation. Another thing is that what people know about us is just superficial. They don't know in depth. So, as an artist, I feel myself as 'messenger.' People just know what is going on per se. The military government is ruling. Auntie Suu [Aung San Suu Kyi] got the Nobel Peace Prize. That's all they know. They don't know our daily problems or difficulties. They know only two names. But they don't know Burma. So what I do is talking rather than painting. Such as how we eat, how we live, how the electricity is or how our education is in my country. I want to say that I am working as a messenger with my art.