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The Burmese painter Htein Lin’s artwork bears the imprint of his years in a Myanmar jail, the place he created tons of of work utilizing jail uniforms as his canvases and makeshift instruments together with syringes, cleaning soap blocks and cigarette lighters.
“I had no canvas, no brushes, no paint. However I needed to make artwork,” says Htein Lin from his dwelling in Myanmar’s Shan state. “I befriended the jail guards to smuggle in paint, scavenging for supplies wherever I may.
“The jail uniform turned my canvas, the wheel of a lighter my ruler, as I repurposed on a regular basis objects as my instruments.”
Even after his launch, he continued improvising with totally different methods.
Htein Lin’s first full retrospective, Escape, at Birmingham’s Ikon Gallery, centres on a collection of jail work, 000235, named after the quantity assigned to him by the Worldwide Committee of the Pink Cross throughout his incarceration in Myanmar from 1998 to 2004.
The exhibition spans the interval earlier than his imprisonment, for allegedly plotting opposition protests, by way of greater than six years in jail, seven years within the UK and his life again in Myanmar since then.
His most up-to-date work consists of textile work, monoprints, video and efficiency, whereas an offsite show at Grendon jail in Buckinghamshire was shaped from his collaborations with inmates on the UK jail and its artist-in-residence, Simon Harris.
One of many standout items within the 000235 collection on the Ikon is Sitting at Iron Gate (2002), which options interlocking limbs and swirling patterns, symbolising “the confined and restricted nature of jail life”.
He describes how he and fellow inmates, usually in solitary confinement or small cells, would sit close to the jail’s iron gate within the evenings, speaking with one another by way of songs, poetry and storytelling. “It turned our secret to survival,” he says.
A number of self-portraits, painted by the artist utilizing solely his fingers, are additionally on show, together with Biology of Artwork (1999), which was created utilizing the tops of toothpaste tubes, medical bottles and tablet packets.
A collection of plaster casts of the arms of former political prisoners, referred to as A Present of Fingers, was influenced by the artist’s expertise of recovering from a damaged arm after a biking accident.
“Our society was damaged, and political prisoners turned its energy – like a plaster solid holding fractured bones collectively,” Htein Lin says.
“It took about half an hour to solid every hand – time by which they recounted their experiences in jail and the story of their sacrifice – I’ve executed this for practically 500 political prisoners.”
1000’s of protesters have been arrested through the 1988 pro-democracy rebellion and the years that adopted. The variety of prisoners surged once more after the 2021 coup, by which the navy seized energy from Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected authorities; greater than 28,000 folks have reportedly been arrested for the reason that takeover and hundreds are nonetheless imprisoned, together with Aung San Suu Kyi herself.
Born in 1966 in Ingapu, south-west Myanmar, Htein Lin was concerned within the 1988 pro-democracy scholar motion resulting in his arrest. He was then given a seven-year jail sentence.
One in all his lowest factors got here in Mandalay jail, the place he was held from 1998 to 2000. “They handcuffed me, blindfolded me, and took me out of the cell,” he remembers.
“I couldn’t see who was beating me, however they lined us up and we needed to stroll between two rows of guards who struck us from either side.”
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It was the artwork he created that obtained him by way of the hardest occasions. “I spent lengthy stretches in solitary confinement, but making artwork made me really feel utterly free.
“Portray wasn’t formally allowed – neither was studying or writing – so each brushstroke was a threat. However I knew my artwork needed to mirror what was taking place in my nation.”
Throughout his time in jail, Htein Lin produced about 1,000 work and drawings, managing to smuggle lots of them out. About 230 work survive, with many now held on the Worldwide Institute of Social Historical past in Amsterdam.
The 58-year-old artist is unable to attend his solo present in Birmingham as a result of he can not get a passport. In 2022, he and his spouse, Vicky Bowman – Britain’s ambassador to Myanmar from 2002 to 2006 – have been sentenced to a 12 months in jail by the navy junta for allegedly failing to register their new deal with, though they think the actual motivation was Bowman’s work on company transparency.
Although they have been launched after three months, Bowman was then deported. Htein Lin has needed to stay in Myanmar because the authorities refuse to resume his passport. The couple have been separated for 2 years.
“After my launch in 2004, I by no means thought I’d find yourself in jail once more,” he says, “however historical past repeats itself.”
Reflecting on the escalating state of affairs in Myanmar, Htein Lin notes that the battle is much extra intense than earlier uprisings.
“Most of my work is reacting to, and reflecting on, what is going on,” he says about his 2024 portray Fiery Hell, impressed by the devastation wreaked by the civil conflict. Htein Lin believes the world largely ignores the disaster.
“It’s not that the world misunderstands Myanmar – it’s that the world doesn’t listen.”
Meditation, together with the Burmese Buddhist “naked perception” vipassana follow, has helped him navigate essentially the most tough occasions. He has additionally mastered the artwork of ready, believing that even within the darkest occasions, transformation is feasible.
“I’ve develop into excellent at ready. At some point, I’ll get my passport again. At some point, issues will change.”
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