Flowers of Spring
Ta Mwe
Myanmar
Exhibition: 7 Feb - 1 Mar 2025
Venue: Wild Siem Reap
Flowers Of Spring is a documentary series portraying young individuals participating in Myanmar’s ‘Spring Revolution’, amidst a backdrop of the military’s crackdown on protests and suppression of free speech. Despite facing consequences such as having their tattoos burned and imprisonment by the military, these youths defiantly express their commitment to freedom and democracy through body art. For their safety, I’ve concealed their identities using flowers and bouquets, which also serve as a metaphor for these youths being akin to the blossoms of spring, symbolizing growth, resilience, and hope. Due to the military crackdown on anti-coup movements, portrait film rolls of these protestors were smuggled through the checkpoints. Some of these films suffered from fungus and degradation.

Venue Partner
Artist Biography
Ta Mwe is a Burmese photojournalist and documentary photographer, who has covered a range of political and social stories throughout Myanmar for national and international publications and organizations. Due to the political situation in Myanmar the name ‘Ta Mwe’ is an alias and this bio has been heavily redacted to remove any identifying information.