Ari Espay Photography

STATEMENT ARTS, The Photography Project in Yangon, Myanmar

In 2016 and 2017, Liza, Statement Arts and I ran four workshops in Yangon. For two of these workshops, they partnered up with Yu Yu Myint Than and Myanmar Deitta, Yangon’s only gallery dedicated to the photographic arts. Social workers from the Shan States of Northern Myanmar were brought down to the capital city to participate in these classes. These young activists are dealing with civil war, drug addiction, human trafficking, land/territory issues and rights for the LGBT community. They are on the front lines, often times before the media. By putting cameras in their hands and providing them with photography skills, they will be better able to document what is happening in their rapidly changing country. There were 10 (7 males and 3 females) enrolled in this workshop. In February of 2017, we ran our first 'women only' workshop. Eight dynamic and talented young women, the THUMA Women’s Photographic Collective, joined us again at the Myanmar Deitta Gallery to learn about how to make compelling images and story-telling. You can see the work of these young women here.