Canvas:
Traditional Burmese fabric forms the base of this work, selected for its cultural resonance and visual rhythm. Fabric is treated not merely as material, but as a site of social struggle—carrying histories of femininity, labor, and control embedded within everyday life.

Technique:
Acrylic paint is applied directly onto the Burmese fabric, allowing the textile’s patterns and textures to remain visible and active within the composition. The painted figures emerge in dialogue with the fabric rather than overpowering it, creating a tension between surface decoration and embodied presence.

Process:
Through careful layering of paint and controlled repetition of form, the work connects personal experience with collective history. The process emphasizes restraint and balance, reflecting how identity is shaped within boundaries imposed by tradition and social expectation.

Artwork Description:
Breaking Self 3 continues the Breaking Self series’ exploration of fragmentation, resistance, and the ongoing negotiation of female identity in Myanmar. The composition presents two partial female figures positioned on either side of the canvas, suggesting a divided self—neither fully separate nor fully unified.

Each figure holds a flower, a recurring symbol within the series that oscillates between beauty, offering, and endurance. Rather than functioning as ornament, the flowers act as quiet gestures of resilience. The contrast between the vivid textile patterns and the pale painted bodies heightens the emotional tension within the work.

Through color, symmetry, and division of space, the painting reflects the pressures placed on women to inhabit conflicting roles—tradition and resistance, visibility and restraint. Breaking Self 3 holds this rupture without resolution, allowing vulnerability and strength to coexist within the same body.

(This painting is being exhibited at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center (BACC). The collection is only accepted for reservation now, with availability for collection starting in February 2024. For reservations, please contact via email)