My book “Of Dung-beetle Messengers and Infamous Crickets“ is now published, with an introduction by Dr Maung Zarni, the founder of Free Burma Coalition. My photos are showing everyday live and are accompanied by Burmese fairy tales and my personal travelogue. In the West, conceptions of Myanmar are often associated with the totalitarian military government and the violation of human rights, the spread of AIDS, the thousands of people used as forced labour, and the traditional commerce in drugs. Conversely, the country is synonymous with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, beautiful temples and serene Buddhism. Yet between these two opposing representations, the everyday life of about 55 million people remains a mystery. For more than forty years the Western World has imposed sanctions against Myanmar, with the hope of forcing the country into democracy. But forty years of sanctions and moral lectures have not had the desired outcome. On the contrary, it has made the average citizen a great deal poorer and kept Myanmar far from many Western countries’ concerns. In recent times, we have twice been woken up from our big sleep: first by the monks’ uprising in September 2007 and then later by the disastrous consequences of cyclone Nargis in May 2008. An outcry was heard throughout the media – against the evil government, the human rights abuses and the suffering of the unfortunate people. Then we carried on sleeping. Still, the great majority of foreign media neglect to report other stories about life in Myanmar. Whose ethics forbid us to highlight the various cultures, beliefs, traditions and living conditions in Myanmar? Only if one knows and understands a people’s way of life can one provide specific help when it is needed. My book aims at generating attention and sympathy for a country that is unknown to so many.
Click here to take a look inside the project.
You can purchase and preview the book here: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/580010
You can order the book directly from me, too.
In March 2006 this project received a grant from the German foundation KULTURWERK that is part of VG Bild-Kunst.
Recommended external link http://www.freeburmacoalition.org.