A king is not always good

Credit Line: Gift of Ian Holliday 2023, Collection of SMU

Hla Pa's painting invokes the technical and decorative sensibilities of traditional Burmese lacquerware. Hla Pa (b. 1972, Rakhine State) trained at Yangon's State School of Fine Arts and was a book and magazine illustrator before becoming a full-time artist in 2010.

The SMU Art Collection has over 70 paintings from Myanmar donated by Ian Holliday. A specialist in Burmese politics, Holliday assembled the Thukhuma Collection which comprises of Burmese paintings largely dating from the transitional decade of the 2010s, presenting multiple artistic perspectives on a society in reform. On display at School of Social Sciences and Li Ka Shing Library, the gifted paintings depict the people, culture and land, from the streets of Yangon and rural peripheries to political icons and indigenous deities.