Burmese artist’s work on exhibit in Singapore

13 January 2010, Myint Maung, Mizzima News.

The works of Burmese artist Htein Lin are presently on display as part of a multinational art festival underway in Singapore.

“We had some difficulties in exhibiting our works at this art festival. I had to explain to the organizers a lot about my art. I explained to them it is not concerned with politics,” Htein Lin, who resides in England, told Mizzima.

Nonetheless, the works of the artist deal quite presciently with many of the ordeals ravishing the troubled Southeast Asian country, as with one work comprising over 2,000 gloves, one for each political prisoner languishing in Burma’s prisons.

“The inflated black gloves placed on the scales represent the minority who manipulate the law,” explained Htein Lin of the project, “while the white inflated gloves represent the people who want justice. The gloves are surrounded by bricks erected like a prison wall and gradually deflated, representing the changing situation.”

Htein Lin himself was previously imprisoned for his political beliefs and role in the 1988 uprising.

He is married to former British Ambassador to Burma, Vicky Bowman, and first exhibited his work inside Burma in Rangoon in 1996.

Fellow artists from Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Croatia, England, Belgium, Slovakia, Japan, the United States, Iran and Australia are also participating in the festival.

Commencing on the 7th of this month, the 18-day Singapore Fringe Festival 10 is organized by the Singapore M One Company and on display at the island state’s Esplanade Exhibition Hall.