Map of Yangon

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

This artwork is part of 25x25 Campus Art Tour.

Listen to the audio description of the artwork here.

Transcript:

This painting recreates the map of downtown Yangon from a collage of demonetised banknotes. The Yangon River is on the lower third of the painting. And in the middle the city is laid out in narrow grids. On the right, a stupa icon marks the site of the Sule Pagoda at the circular intersection in Yangon's civic and administrative centre, the rallying point of both the 8888 Uprising in August 1988 and the Saffron Revolution in 2007. On the top, the narrow grid opens into larger blocks with landmarks such as the sports stadium and markets, and a major road, named after General Aung San, Burma's revolutionary hero and architect of independence.

General Aung San's long shadow over the city is also reflected in the many banknotes featuring his portrait that make the blocks of the city. The artist Zwe Yang Naing debuted the currency collage technique with his first solo exhibition in 2011, seeing in old banknotes a way to redeem the historic past in political art. In the overlay of old banknotes on downtown Yangon, the artist's currency collage re-circulates demonetised currencies and creates a palimpsest of a heroic past negotiating a contentious modernity.

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This painting offer perspective on downtown Yangon. Map of Yangon is a collage of demonetised banknotes, many featuring portraits of General Aung San, Burma's revolutionary hero and architect of independence. The artist debuted the currency collage technique with his first solo exhibition in 2011, seeing in old banknotes a way to redeem the historic past in political art.

Zwe's map reproduced the city's physical layout and identifies major roads and public sites by name. A stupa icon marks the site of the Sule Pagoda at the circular intersection in Yangon's civic and administrative centre, the rallying point of both the 8888 Uprising in August and the 2007 Saffron Revolution.

In the overlay of old banknotes on downtown Yangon, the artist's currency collage re-circulates demonetised currencies and creates a palimpsest of a heroic past negotiating a contentious modernity.

Zwe Yang Naing (b. 1984, Rakhine State) lived as a monk for nine years in the coastal town of Ngapali, Rakhine State, before moving to Yangon to attend the State School of Fine Arts in 2006.

The SMU Art Collection has over 300 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.