Nyan Soe | 1987 | Myanmar

“Life is not just about success. There are other things in life that we can achieve and feel grateful for. Let the tears drop because of happiness, not because you hurt them. If you can’t fight over a thousand enemies, please help the person who is next to you.” 

These are extracted and translated from a small part of the lyrics from a song named Nyi Lay by Myo Kyi, a famous singer in Myanmar. We as a person on this earth. We as a member of this society. We hold the responsibility of our well beings as well as the others. Myanmar has been under the spotlight since early this year. But time has washed away the focus of what has happened there. From one page to one small corner in the newspaper is hard to be unseen. Even a thousand pages can’t explain well what is going on there. The existing words have become limited to express the tremendous feelings of the people and the 26 letters are not enough to spell out. Let the colours take over and spill over the canvas. Let our hands translate our thoughts into a painting or a physical object. Let us write without words.’ – Nyan Soe

Nyan Soe received his Bachelor of Science (Chemistry) with Honours from the University of East Yangon, Myanmar in 2007 and came to Singapore to train at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, graduating with a Diploma in Fine Art (Sculpture) with distinction in 2013. Since graduation, he has worked with a variety of mediums across different disciplines from sculpture, ceramics, printmaking and seal carving; expanding his language in art-making considerably.