A Portrait of the Artist, After the Coup
Before the coup, Chuu Wai Nyein was an artist who created work with an aspiration of elevating and empowering Burmese women in a society where they had to endure harassment and abuse. So when the coup hit, it wasn’t altogether unsurprising that Chuu would use her artistic ability, combined with her values of social justice, to find a way to contribute in the early days of the resistance movement.
In our interview with Chuu, she provided an hour-by-hour account of her involvement in the days immediately following the coup. At first she stayed indoors, as she did not have many friends in Yangon, but eventually took to the streets. However, soon after she found that she could perhaps play a more valuable role by creating protest art rather than merely holding it, and so she took on the role of helping others express their deeper feelings. This is the first of two posts, as the follow-up goes on to tell what happened once things got very dark.
“A lot of people came and wrote on this canvas what they wanted to change in our society, and it was so beautiful.”
“Before the coup d'etat, I was living in both cities, Mandalay and Yangon. I painted in Mandalay and I carried these painting to Yangon. I worked with a gallery, which made exhibitions for me. So basically, I lived in two cities.
But just a few days before the coup d'etat I made the decision to go and live in Yangon for good, because it's going to be a better than going back and forth all the time.
So I was in Yangon, just to make a final payment for the apartment that I will use as a studio and also live in. When the coup d'etat happened, I was in front of the bank in Yangon. Just as I was waiting to cash out and pay for this apartment, the bank was closed! I asked the security guard why the bank’s closed. I thought it's because of COVID, but he said ‘No, it's because of the political situation.’
So I decided to go back home and I called a taxi. In the taxi, I understood that a coup d'etat happened through the radio. The taxi driver told me all the internet and the phone lines, well, nothing is working! That our president was captured and the military is marching from Naypyidaw to Yangon. I received that news, and I was shocked. At the time it was so difficult to know what was going without internet or phones.
I was even wondering if the coup really happened, because no one talked about it in, even in the downtown of Yangon. Everything looked normal, so I was even wondering if maybe it was only a little changing of the leader and nothing will happen.
But anyway, I was thinking that whatever we voted, the military doesn’t care. They don't give a shit and they can do whatever they want. The way they do it, well, we cannot accept it.
So starting from the fourth day of the coup d'etat, suddenly a lot of people came on the street and started to go out to demonstrate. And me too, I wanted to express my voice, that I cannot accept it! But I’m in Yangon, and I don't have a lot of friends there. Most of my friends are in Mandalay.
I have an old friend from the university but who is quite far away for me. She is with her friends going to demonstrate, but their place is so far away from me. Many people were on the street and we don’t know how dangerous it is. This is really a new thing to all of us. I prefer to go on the street to demonstrate with friends and people that I know.
After two or three days, I'm just in the apartment and I felt so bad, like masses of people on the street, but I still don’t find a friend to join with. So I say ‘Okay, I don't care, maybe I will go out on the street and I will demonstrate myself. I will create a little bit of artwork and I will demonstrate holding the poster.’
So I thought that way. I went to the painting supply store and I bought paper and the paint to make my poster. In front of the shop, suddenly one man came and asked me, ‘Are you writing a poster? Can I have one or two posters, because I also left my house to protest on the street. But I didn't have the poster to hold.’
So I asked him what he wanted to write, and I wrote it for him. Then at the same time, a group of young artists came in front of the shop and they also wanted a poster for themselves. Once I started to write a one poster for one person, the whole day, a lot of people came constantly and asking their poster! So at the end of the day I finished all my paint and paper. Instead of demonstrating on the streets, I realized, I'm an artist, and I can paint! I think this can be a good way to participate in the protest, providing posters to the people, like whatever they want to tell and whatever they want to hold in their hand.
So I talked to the young groups and we all came together and made this plan that tomorrow we will meet here at the same spot, and let's write a poster for the people.
The next day, I was holding an empty canvas on the street and holding a pen in my hand and asking people to write something they’re feeling. A lot of people came and wrote on this canvas what they wanted to change in our society, and it was so beautiful.
Some of the texts are so beautiful, and some are really hilarious and insulting to the military! I'm happy that I made it. Every day the situations changes, the voice of the people who asked to write the posters changes, and the handwriting of the people on the canvas as well, it is all changing and it directly reflects the voices of the people at that time.
So I’m collecting the handwriting of the people during the protests, and on the other side, I'm still writing posters every day for the young people.
At this time, I have a Facebook page with the 40,000 follower. On my page, I was posting about the poster and also the activity that was going on. So everyday we see a new young people in our group, and this group is getting bigger and bigger. And at some point, I started to think instead of staying on this spot, and how about we try to be mobile? Because the situation is changing everyday. The protest groups are also changing. The people are protesting and giving their messages and voices in front of the UN. But sometimes they go to the embassy or they go downtown, based on the news and the situation at the time. The peoples are all moving.”
The poster that Chu created that day.