LAND OF GOLD

Land of Gold is a large-scale mural commissioned for the rooftop bar of the then under-construction Hostel9 in downtown Yangon and produced during the artist’s apprenticeship with Burmese painter Shine Lu.

Prior to the military coup and ensuing civil conflict, Hostel9 operated as a site of encounter between Burmese locals and outsiders, shaped by uneven historical and cultural conditions. 

Conceived as an allegorical image of Myanmar, the mural brings together references to belief systems, visual traditions and colonial inheritance. Within an open composition, the painting resists linear narration or the illustration of specific events.

Across this unresolved field, gilded tones and symbolic fragments evoke both devotional materiality and the external imaginaries through which the country has been historically framed. This way, it allows local meaning and projected narratives to coexist without resolution.

Land of Gold, 2018
water-based paint + spray
300 x 1500 cm