Myanmar. Everyday economic survival in Myanmar By Ardeth Maung Thawnghmung Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2019. Pp. 276. Tables, Maps, Photographs, Notes, Bibliography, Index.

Abstract

under the new government. For example, in 2017, after public criticism on social media went viral, artist Zaw Zaw Aung was instructed by Aung San Suu Kyi to modify his finished painting because the Buddha images in his work were placed too low and close to street level in the composition. The modifications took him a year to finish. In another instance, street artists from Kachin State were arrested and jailed for three months after criticism on social media that the Grim Reaper figure in their mural looked like a monk (www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/artists-freed-anti-buddhistclaims-dropped-covid-19-mural-myanmar.html). The democratic government closed one eye in the latter case as political interests trumped freedom of expression when it came to issues related to the majority religion, Buddhism. Overall, this book could be a very useful introductory reference for journalists, art students and researchers who wish to learn about the history of contemporary art in Myanmar. As the editors of this book and most people inside the country assume, the age-old censorship, political upheaval and communal violence of the 2010s in Myanmar isolated local artists from developments in global contemporary art and from the art market as well. Although the presentation of generational divides seems meaningful in terms of the political periods in which the artists were born, it would have been clearer to divide artists into those born in pre-independence and post-independence Burma, which never enjoyed much freedom and peace; all the post-independence generations have lived, to a great extent, under political repression and in turmoil. Nevertheless, Painting Myanmar’s transition well documents how the artists from all four designated generations have withstood such hardships through their careers. Even in the transitional 2010s, they did not sell enough due to the decline of tourism after the communal violence in Rakhine State broke out. The brief Introduction reflecting on how local artists migrate to parallel trades to make a living is very helpful for readers to understand what artists have to do to survive in Myanmar.