Exhibitions

Art and Media Ask for Peace and Society− Facebook-Sponsored Art Exhibition ‘Sa Gar Ahla Ku Htone’

The Secretariat

Nov 02 - Nov 17, 2019

Written by Yuki Kitazumi, Translated by AURA Art

In Myanmar, mobile phones have rapidly become popular since the transition to civilian rule in 2011, and all citizens have rushed to access the Internet. However, media literacy among citizens who are unfamiliar with the Internet is low, and various problems have arisen, such as believing all Facebook posts to be true, and the Internet is now becoming a source of ethnic conflict. Artists from Myanmar, who are aware of this situation, gathered to hold an art exhibition called 'Sa Gar Ahla Ku Htone (Beauty Word Therapy)'.

Held in a Historic Building in Yangon

The art exhibition held at the historic building 'The Secretariat', which is famous for being the place where General Aung San, a hero of Myanmar independence, was assassinated, was organized by the 'Pyinsa Rasa' network of artists, and various others, who cooperated with Facebook. They collected a wide variety of works combining installations, paintings, dancing and live performances, and short films.

The first thing we saw upon entering the hall was the 'Balloon-like air word', created by Moe Satt, an installation of dolls that looked like they were made from balloons jointed together. Visitors wrote comments on the variety of large and small dolls. The audience was asked about what they thought of words that fly around in cyberspace like air, such as hate speech or fake news. The dolls had messages written on them such as “We should stop fighting each other."

Expressing Slander in Photos and Animations

Photographer Sai Htin Linn Htet's short film and photo exhibits warned against online postings. This animation used photographs to express how words of slander are being attached to human clothes one after another. It clearly visualizes that people are hurt by the slander that fills the net.

Meanwhile, the potential for peace to overcome hate speech was demonstrated by photographer Hkun Lat's 'House of Peace'. In Kachin State, where the civil war is ongoing, a documentary about a hut, which is a refuge for both ethnic minority armed groups and soldiers of the Myanmar National Armed Forces, was screened in a building that imitated the hut. In addition, in order to improve media literacy, a comical comic of fairy tales parodies by illustrator Theè Oo and poet Nay Myo Set Lu was also exhibited at this event. There was also a series of photographs by Mr. Thadi Htar, who gazed at their identity and expressed respect for various ethnic groups.

In Myanmar, armed conflict has intensified in Rakhine State since 2017. More than 700,000 Islamic Rohingyas fled to neighboring Bangladesh as refugees. In addition, the civil war between the armed groups of Buddhist ethnic minority Rakhine and the armed forces of Myanmar has become increasingly serious in urban areas. It has also been pointed out that hate speech on Facebook threatens to feed this ethnic confrontation. In response to this situation, Facebook is now taking steps to close accounts that it has identified as posting hate speech, but some have criticized the response as being too slow.

Although this was an event supported by Facebook, a large number of spectators visited the art exhibition because it was held in historic buildings, and because it attracted popular young artists such as illustrator Bart Was Not Here and dancer Jimmy Koko. The audience memberes were taking footage one after another on their smartphones. Most of them would surely have posted these photos or video clips on Facebook. These real-world events will spread in cyberspace, and the messages that the works express would have spread in an instant. It can be said that the role of the new art exhibition was shown in Yangon.