Sawangwongse Yawnghwe’s (b. 1971) work deals with the broad contours of Burmese history in the twentieth century and beyond, as well as current issues, and is decidedly anti-establishment. The latter position is informed by autobiographical facts: Sawangwongse was born to Chao Tzang Yawnghwe, the second son of Sao Shwe Thaik. The latter was the first president of the Union of Burma, serving from 1948 to 1952, as well as being the last hereditary Saopha of the Shan principality of Yawnghwe (hence the family’s adopted last name). Sao Shwe Thaik met his demise in Ne Win’s coup of 1962, after which the remnants of his family fled to northern Thailand, where his widow was one of the founders of the revolutionary Shan State Army. Today, Sawangwongse’s practice adopts a stridently socio-political bent, informed by the spirit of the vicissitudes suffered by his family. Rohingya Portraits No. 3 is a suite of 28 portraits, based on Rohingya boat refugees who appeared in a photograph in TIME, in 2014. The artist writes of the impulse behind the piece: “I have chosen to make the portraits in this format because the original photograph was published by Time magazine depicting Rohingya men on the boat arriving in Bangladesh from Burma/Myanmar. I made the decision to portray them individually giving them each a format of “portraiture”. I do not know the individuals personally, the reason that compelled me to translate into the drawing pages was that I can relate to them. They are born and lived in Burma all their lives, are they not in this case my countrymen? The world is gripped by the horrors that have driven the Rohingya into Bangladesh, but these same horrors have been the reality faced by millions of ethnic people in Burma for several decades. It’s important to realise this is the world’s longest running civil war.”
