Red Women

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

An early work from Min Zaw's signature Red Women series, this 2006 painting of three women in companionable repose is a bold statement of artistic independence made in defiance against official objections to red, reportedly objectionable because the colour relates to "war, blood, a call to action."

The inspiration from traditional Myanmar art is seen in the soft, tender and paper-thin outlines; the simple and basic colours; and the flat non-3D paint. Min Zaw uses this same technique in his series Ordinary People.

Min Zaw (b. 1972, Yangon) graduated from Yangon's State School of Fine Arts in 1994, and the University of Culture in Yangon in 1998. He was a finalist in the 2002 ASEAN Art Award when it was first extended to include entries from Myanmar, and a founding member of the Collective Studio Square which was established in Yangon in 2003. He has exhibited regularly in Singapore since 2000.

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.