Htein Lin
Encyclopedia
Htein Lin is a Burmese painter
, performance artist, and activist.
(LLB) degree at Yangon University. Together with other students, he was expelled in 1988 for protesting about the lack of investigation into the death of another student.
Following involvement with protests, Htein Lin, together with other activists, withdrew to camps on the border with India
. Here he became a member of the All Burma Students' Democratic Front
(ABSDF), opposed to the Burmese military regime. During this period, he studied with the artist Sitt Nyein Aye
from Mandalay
, learning about western artists such as Pablo Picasso
and Vincent van Gogh
. He used his skills to add illustrations the publications of the ABSDF. He was involved with internal conflicts within the ABSDF in 1991 and was imprisoned. In 1993, Htein Lin continued his law degree, which he completed in 1994.
. His artistic performances included The Little Worm in the Ear, in Yangon
, and Guitarist in 1996.
Htein Lin spent 6½ years as a political prisoner
in Burma from 1998-2004. He continued to perform for fellow inmates in prison. Officially, he was not permitted to paint while imprisoned. However, he managed to produce several hundred paintings secretly, using white cotton prison uniforms, as well as about a thousand drawings. He bribed the prison guards to smuggle paint to him, but it was too dangerous to have a paintbrush in his cell. Instead, he used various objects that were available to him, including cigarette lighters, pieces of glass, plates, nets, razor blades, syringes, or simply his fingers and hands. He used a monoprint technique.
After his release from prison in 2004, he was homeless for a while. The British
Ambassador in Yangon
, Victoria Bowman, took care of the paintings and ensured their preservation by loaning them to the Burma Archives Project at the International Institute of Social History
in Amsterdam
.
His 2005 Rangoon street performance entitled Mobile Art Gallery/Mobile Market meant he was interrogated by the authorities again. He has also performed in Finland
, France
, Norway
, Thailand
, and the United Kingdom
. In addition, he has performed at the 2007 Venice Biennale
and at festivals in Finland, Japan
, Malaysia, and the Philippines
. His performances draw on his artistic life as well as aiming to raise awareness of the Burmese political situation.
Htein Lin has continued to use the monoprint technique in his subsequent paintings. These draw on his Theravada Buddhist faith, Burmese symbols and traditions, his early experience as a comedian in "anyeint
" satirical performances, and events such as Cyclone Nargis
and the Saffron Revolution.
Since 2006, Htein Lin has lived in London. He undertook performance art in Trafalgar Square
, central London, on 1 June 2008.
, Victoria Bowman, and they have a child.
has acquired two paintings by Htein Lin. Other works are held in private collections in Belgium
, Hong Kong
, The Netherlands, Singapore
, Spain
, Sweden
, Thailand
, United Kingdom
, and United States
.
The International Institute of Social History
in Amsterdam
holds Htein Lin's papers.
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, performance artist, and activist.
Early life
Htein Lin was born in Mezaligon, Sagaing Division in northern Burma. From 1985, he studied for a Bachelor of LawLaw
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
(LLB) degree at Yangon University. Together with other students, he was expelled in 1988 for protesting about the lack of investigation into the death of another student.
Following involvement with protests, Htein Lin, together with other activists, withdrew to camps on the border with India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. Here he became a member of the All Burma Students' Democratic Front
All Burma Students' Democratic Front
The All Burma Students' Democratic Front is a resistance group against the military regime in Myanmar, the former Burma. It was created after unrest in the year 1988, in November 1988 in Yangon. It is a group of Burmese students living in the exile...
(ABSDF), opposed to the Burmese military regime. During this period, he studied with the artist Sitt Nyein Aye
Sitt Nyein Aye
Sitt Nyein Aye is a Burmese artist.Sitt Nyein Aye came from a small village, near Nyaung-U Township in Upper Myanmar. He was born Sein Aye to Daw Than Swe and U Tun Pe. His parents were farmers with no money for education. Monks in the village monastery provided the resources needed for him to...
from Mandalay
Mandalay Division
Mandalay Region is an administrative division of Myanmar. It is located in the center of the country, bordering Sagaing Region and Magway Region to the west, Shan State to the east, and Bago Region and Kayin State to the south. The regional capital is Mandalay. In the south of the division lies...
, learning about western artists such as Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
and Vincent van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh , and used Brabant dialect in his writing; it is therefore likely that he himself pronounced his name with a Brabant accent: , with a voiced V and palatalized G and gh. In France, where much of his work was produced, it is...
. He used his skills to add illustrations the publications of the ABSDF. He was involved with internal conflicts within the ABSDF in 1991 and was imprisoned. In 1993, Htein Lin continued his law degree, which he completed in 1994.
Artistic career
Instead of working in the legal profession, Htein Lin became an artist and also an actor in comic films (as "Htein Htein") in the mid 1990s. He led the way with modern Burmese performance artPerformance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
. His artistic performances included The Little Worm in the Ear, in Yangon
Yangon
Yangon is a former capital of Burma and the capital of Yangon Region . Although the military government has officially relocated the capital to Naypyidaw since March 2006, Yangon, with a population of over four million, continues to be the country's largest city and the most important commercial...
, and Guitarist in 1996.
Htein Lin spent 6½ years as a political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
in Burma from 1998-2004. He continued to perform for fellow inmates in prison. Officially, he was not permitted to paint while imprisoned. However, he managed to produce several hundred paintings secretly, using white cotton prison uniforms, as well as about a thousand drawings. He bribed the prison guards to smuggle paint to him, but it was too dangerous to have a paintbrush in his cell. Instead, he used various objects that were available to him, including cigarette lighters, pieces of glass, plates, nets, razor blades, syringes, or simply his fingers and hands. He used a monoprint technique.
After his release from prison in 2004, he was homeless for a while. The British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Ambassador in Yangon
Yangon
Yangon is a former capital of Burma and the capital of Yangon Region . Although the military government has officially relocated the capital to Naypyidaw since March 2006, Yangon, with a population of over four million, continues to be the country's largest city and the most important commercial...
, Victoria Bowman, took care of the paintings and ensured their preservation by loaning them to the Burma Archives Project at the International Institute of Social History
International Institute of Social History
The International Institute of Social History is a historical research institute in Amsterdam. It was founded in 1935 by Nicolaas Posthumus. The IISG is part of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences....
in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
.
His 2005 Rangoon street performance entitled Mobile Art Gallery/Mobile Market meant he was interrogated by the authorities again. He has also performed in Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. In addition, he has performed at the 2007 Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
and at festivals in Finland, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Malaysia, and the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. His performances draw on his artistic life as well as aiming to raise awareness of the Burmese political situation.
Htein Lin has continued to use the monoprint technique in his subsequent paintings. These draw on his Theravada Buddhist faith, Burmese symbols and traditions, his early experience as a comedian in "anyeint
Anyeint
Anyeint is a traditional Burmese entertainment form that combines dance with instrumental music, song, and comedy routines, in theatrical performances. It is a form of pwe, the Burmese word for traditional entertainment...
" satirical performances, and events such as Cyclone Nargis
Cyclone Nargis
Cyclone Nargis , was a strong tropical cyclone that caused the worst natural disaster in the recorded history of Burma. The cyclone made landfall in Burma on Friday, May 2, 2008, causing catastrophic destruction and at least 138,000 fatalities...
and the Saffron Revolution.
Since 2006, Htein Lin has lived in London. He undertook performance art in Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...
, central London, on 1 June 2008.
Exhibitions
Htein Lin has exhibited at the following solo and group shows:- Solo and group shows in Rangoon, Burma, 1996, 1997, 2005, 2006
- Burma: Inside Out, Asia HouseAsia HouseAsia House, is a non-profit, non-political Pan-Asian organisation in the UK. It was founded in 1996 by a small group led by Sir Peter Wakefield, a former diplomat who died aged 89 in December 2010...
, London, UK, July–October 2007 (prison paintings) - Asian Attitudes (group show), National Museum, PoznańNational Museum, PoznańThe National Museum, Poznań , Poland, is a national institution of culture and one of the largest museums in Poland. It comprise a rich collection of Polish painting since the 16th century and a collection of foreign painting...
, PolandPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, July 2007 - Beyond Burma (group show), Chocolate Factory, London, UK, February 2008
- 20 Years On, Suwunnabhumi Gallery, Chiang MaiChiang MaiChiang Mai sometimes written as "Chiengmai" or "Chiangmai", is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand. It is the capital of Chiang Mai Province , a former capital of the Kingdom of Lanna and was the tributary Kingdom of Chiang Mai from 1774 until 1939. It is...
, March 2008 - The Cell, Karin Weber Gallery, Hong KongHong KongHong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, March 2008 - Out Of Burma, Quest Gallery, Bath, UK, May–July 2008
- Crossings (group show), Olson Gallery, Northern Illinois UniversityNorthern Illinois UniversityNorthern Illinois University is a state university and research institution located in DeKalb, Illinois, with satellite centers in Hoffman Estates, Naperville, Rockford, and Oregon. It was originally founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895 by Illinois Governor John P...
, DeKalbDeKalb-Locations:* Municipalities in the United States:** DeKalb, Illinois, the largest city in the United States named DeKalb***DeKalb High School in that city** De Kalb, Mississippi ** De Kalb, Missouri...
, USA, August–October 2008 - 00235, Carcere le Nuove, TurinTurinTurin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
, ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, October 2008 (prison paintings)
Family
He is married to the former British Ambassador to MyanmarMyanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
, Victoria Bowman, and they have a child.
Legacy
The US Embassy in YangonYangon
Yangon is a former capital of Burma and the capital of Yangon Region . Although the military government has officially relocated the capital to Naypyidaw since March 2006, Yangon, with a population of over four million, continues to be the country's largest city and the most important commercial...
has acquired two paintings by Htein Lin. Other works are held in private collections in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, The Netherlands, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
The International Institute of Social History
International Institute of Social History
The International Institute of Social History is a historical research institute in Amsterdam. It was founded in 1935 by Nicolaas Posthumus. The IISG is part of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences....
in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
holds Htein Lin's papers.
External links
- Htein Lin website
- Htein Lin on FacebookFacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
- Htein Lin Performance Artist/Painter on FlickrFlickrFlickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...
- Htein Lin, Artstream Myanmar
- Htein Lin: Burma Inside Out, MetaFilter
- Htein Lin (Burmese, 1966), artnetArtnetartnet is an online service provider for the international art market with headquarters in New York, Berlin and Paris. Additionally, artnet has regional offices in China, the UK and Russia.- Business model :...
- Interview with Burmese artist, Htein Lin by Chris Lord
- Htein Lin, The Marigold Gallery, Asian Art Gallery