Yangon Street Scenes (Green)

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

Ko Ko Naing's Yangon paintings offer unusual perspectives of the city by focusing skywards to trace cable lines and rooftop satellite dishes and television antennae.

Ko Ko Naing (b. 1960, Mon State) has actively exhibited his art since 2009. The Yangon-based artist also works as a graphic designer and illustrator.

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.