A Breath during the Transition

“Even though it's not a fully democratic environment, it's a partial democracy in which art is allowed room to breathe. And artists are allowed room to express themselves with less restraint, less worry about censorship, and being punished for saying the wrong thing.”

During his recent interview, Kenneth Wong shone a light on the burst of creativity he witnessed on the part of Burmese artists during the transition period last decade, coming out of a half century of brutal censorship applied on all forms of self-expression. Through the mediums of film, poetry, documentary, animation, literature, art, and more, Kenneth was touched by the outpouring of the creative spirit that was released, almost like a dam breaking, when those personal freedoms extended to the artistic realm as well.

For those who grew up in free societies, it is hard to imagine how stifling it would feel to be unable to produce art as a creative person, as well as on the other side: to be denied access to any new works of brilliant vision and interpretative meaning, in any form. Artists play such a powerful role in any civil society, and to place limitations on their expression cuts off an important feedback loop of how members of society can communicate to others about their experience in that shared space.

Kenneth understood all this and spoke about the pain of pre-transition media, when artists could not produce and saw their potential wasted away, year after year.

He then saw the wealth of dynamic expression flowering over all aspects of Burmese society last decade, when this pent-up creativity exploded over every surface... sometimes literally!

Today, Burmese artists find themselves back in the familiar vice-grip of the dictator, and must either continue in hiding at great personal risk, or leave the country in exile. What is not an option is for them to stop their work, as that creative spirit will not again be trapped in a closed can again.