SITUATION
“If you don’t have a platform, create a platform”, Yu Yu Myint Than said to herself, when she and six of her colleagues started Myanmar’s first and only all-female photographer’s collective Thuma in 2017.
For our current cluster “The Right to Look”, the SITUATIONS-team of Fotomuseum Winterthur interviewed Thuma’s members Shwe Wutt Hmon, Khin Kyi Htet, Rita Khin, Tin Htet Paing and Yu Yu Myint Than on being a female* photographer in Myanmar, where the contemporary art scene is still quite young due to the country’s political development. Thuma wants to fill the existing gap in the heavily male-dominated industry by educating and increasing visibility and representation of women* in the national and international photographic scene.
SITUATIONS/The Right to Look presents artistic, cultural and curatorial strategies that reveal and critically question the power dynamics of the gaze.
More info:
https://www.fotomuseum.ch/en/explore/...
FOLLOW THUMA COLLECTIVE
Thuma Collective
Instagram @thuma_collective
/ thuma_collective
Facebook
/ thumacollective
Rita Khin, Instagram @khin_rita
/ khin_rita
https://www.ritakhin.com
Khin Kyi Htet, Instagram @khin.cobaltblue
/ khin.cobaltblue
Shwe Wutt Hmon, Instagram @shwewutthmon
/ shwewutthmon
https://www.shwewutthmon.com/
Tin Htet Paing, Instagram @tinhtetpaing
/ tinhtetpaing
Myanmar now
https://myanmar-now.org/en/author/2399
Yu Yu Myint Than, Instagram @yuyumt_burma
/ yuyumt_burma
https://www.yuyumyintthan.com/
FURTHER READING
Abby Robinson, «THUMA», Spring 2018 https://quod.lib.umich.edu/t/tap/7977... (last accessed 20.04.20).
Ellen Pearlman, «A Brief History of Contemporary Art in Myanmar», Hyperallergic, 10.07.2017
https://hyperallergic.com/374488/a-br... (last accessed 20.04.20).
Lwin Mar Htun, «Women Photographers Tell Life Stories Through Images», The Irrawaddy, 25.05.2018 https://www.irrawaddy.com/culture/art... (last accessed 20.04.20).
Matt Grace, «Yangon’s Distinctive Photography Scene», Go-Myanmar.com, 06.10.2015
https://www.go-myanmar.com/yangons-di... (last accessed 20.04.20).
Nandar Aung, «Through our eyes», The Myanmar Times, 12.10.2017 https://www.mmtimes.com/news/through-... (last accessed 20.04.20).
Nathalie Johnston, «Myanmar’s art education: Out with the old, in with the new», 14.02.2014 https://artradarjournal.com/2014/02/1... (last accessed 20.04.20).
Pro Helvetia, «Thuma Collective’s Yu Yu Myint Than & Shwe Wutt Hmon on residency in Switzerland», https://prohelvetia.in/en/thuma-colle... (last accessed 20.04.20).
Radio Stadtfilter, «Yu Yu Myint Than und Shwe Wutt Hmon im Interview», 19.02.20 / yu-yu-myint-than-und-shwe-wutt-hmon-im-int... (last accessed 20.04.20).
Rita Khin, «Body and Soul, by Rita Khin», Invisible Photographer Asia, 27.05.2018 https://invisiblephotographer.asia/20... (last accessed 20.04.20).
Victoria Milko, «Thuma: a collective of their own», Frontier Myanmar, 31.08.2019 https://frontiermyanmar.net/en/thuma-... (last accessed 20.04.20).
MENTIONED INSTITUTIONS
Deitta, Myanmar
https://www.deitta.org
https://www.deitta.org/portfolio/cont...
Goethe Institut (Funding)
https://www.goethe.de/ins/mm/de/index...
Institute Français (Funding)
https://www.ifbirmanie.org/
Myanmar Photo Archive
https://www.myanmarphotoarchive.org/
National Art & Cultural University (NUAC)
http://www.nuacmdy.edu.mm/
National Management College (NMDC)
https://www.nmdc.edu.mm/en/
National Museum of Myanmar (no official website)
https://culture360.asef.org/resources...
Yangon Filmschool
http://yangonfilmschool.org/
Yangon Pride
http://www.andproud.net/
https://vimeo.com/andproud
MUSIC
LAKEY INSPIRED – Arcade (2019)
/ arcade
Nadja Rose – BOOM! (2015)
• Nadia Rose | BOOM! [Music Video]: SBTV
Willow Smith - Wait a Minute! (REV-ENG Remix), (2018)
/ willow-smith-wait-a-minute-rev-eng-remix
VIDEO INTERVIEWS
Thuma Collective (Shwe Wutt Hmon, Khin Kyi Htet, Rita A. Khin, Tin Htet Paing, Yu Yu Myint Than)
RESEARCH/VISUALS
Rahel Christen, Lucinda Grange
EDITING
Mona Schubert