A thread about the 2nd day of the Ahnu Thutaythana festival and exhibition we are co-hosting with our Myanmar partners @EMReF_Myanmar 
Htein Lin, whose exhibit deals with socio-cultural issues and taboos surrounding the longyi, discusses its consequences for gender equality, and the concept of male emasculation that arises when men pass under their wives’ longyis and when husband/wife longyis are washed together
Hilary Faxon and colleagues introduce their exhibition using participatory photography on issues of gender and land grabs, and how they’ve oriented their approach around Donna Haraway’s concept of situated knowledge. Allowing women to be experts on their own lives provided rich..
Enabling the women participants to present and represent their lives on their own terms can be challenging when their practices and customs do not align with those of the foreign facilitator, who has to show respect.
Seng Mai Maran, who has made a film on drug addiction amongst women in Kachin, discusses its synthesis of art and research as an entry point to better understanding gender differences in drug abuse and rehabilitation
Htein Lin adds that in collecting tamay (women’s longyi) for his exhibit - of a woman’s head made of tamay - he found generational differences in women’s response to such a project.
Htein Lin says the project was challenging inasfar as he needed to strike a balance between his own beliefs and the customs and beliefs of his respondents.
The symbolism of the tamay as a source of male emasculation and female domination also flows into political life - with a woman taken to court when she referred to the government as ‘tamay’, implying that it was under the domination of the union president.
The second panel discussion focuses on peace, and comprises brilliant documentary and docu-animation makers, and graphic illustrators - including Min Arkar Htet, who collaborated with our P4P grantees Jeepyah Civil Society Development Organisation and Tavoyan Women’s Union
Nweay Zarchi Soe discusses the process of making ‘Limbo’ - part of the Yangon Film School’s docuanimation series ‘Stand up for women! Stand up for peace’ - conducting research and interviews amongst victims of gender-based violence to represent their experiences
Sabe Phyu Nu shares her approach to constructing a narrative for her film on experiences of violence and suffering in conflict areas, esp with reference to internally displaced people. She imagined herself an older sister searching for a younger sibling in an IDP camp.
Min Arkar Htet, is a doctor with a passion for art and peace; and participated in our workshop earlier this year connecting artists and researchers to explore their collaborative power.
Ahtet has co-developed an animation about the white rose campaign, referencing violent events against Muslims during Eid in May 2019, and the response of Myanmar civil society to this by extending love, care and peace through the offering of white roses
The panellists discuss the sensitivities involved in drawing real lives, and the importance for the artist to relate to their subjects, and to feel, as they are creating.
Footloose and fancy free in Yangon this Sunday? Monday? Tuesday? Join the Ahnu Thutaythana festival and explore the exhibition on issues affecting equality and inclusion
Participants in today’s last panell discuss their work on discrimination, marginalisation, and exclusion with reference to borders.
Yu Yu Myint Than followed the experiences of Shan people being trafficked across the Chinese border in the pursuit of a better life, and felt the need to channel her emotions about what she was witnessing by telling their stories via documentary photographs.
Similarly, visual storyteller Hkun Li reflects on the imperative of representing experiences of those facing discrimination & exclusion. While Jai Jai - whose film follows the phlight of a Thai born Shan boy who remains stateless and on the margins of life in the country he calls
home - had his interest sparked upon hearing the news of the boy’s efforts to travel outside Thailand to enter a paper plane flying competition on behalf of the country. Despite his championship success, his failure to be given Thai ID has continued to make life difficult for him
It is a story that bears as much on the failure of Myanmar to retain and care for its citizens, as it does on the failure of a Thailand to extend its duty of care.
Myat Thet, the only panellist who is a researcher, introduces ‘Lives Under Bounds’- a research project on the Rohingya that is being visualised through art and is available to see at the festival exhibition.
On the question of whether the pursuit of meaningful change in discrimination, marginalisation and exclusion is/can/should prioritise affecting social consciousness or policy, the panellists emphasise the need to change hearts and minds - policy will follow. Two further opinions
On this are: (1) Jai Jai says the question is not whether to prioritise social or policy change, but to ask what our art is for; and (2) Myat Thet Thitsar says our priority should be to change knowledge, to approach issues as humans, and from that all meaningful impact will flow.
With that discussion day two of the Ahnu Thutaythana festival and exhibition on arts and research comes to an end. We’ll be back here for day three tomorrow - 9.30am Myanmar time.
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