Photography Project

Commisioned by
British Council Myanmar

2024

Bonding Through Trauma

The uncertain futures cloud the experience of Burmese youth. Given the present, these youth, if we can even still find whatever traces of youthhood's qualities remain in them—have to carry the baggage of dread and personal trauma in encounters with their peers.

While this common denominator of doom can provide instant personal connections, this can never be without any complications.

Youngsters seek emotional stability by creating new identities that meet their needs and peer expectations.

These adopted identities hold the potential to hide the genuine self and deepen internal tensions; for our family and social backgrounds differ, however much we like to say we are in this together.

The artist wants to highlight these differing modes of youth existence against the common background of hardship. For those who had the chance to escape, the struggle continues in a different form.

They are now part of the migrant workforce, sending remittances; some learning things while facing alienation and exploitation abroad.

They are the "Big Dog" hoping their sacrifice will bring eventual stability, even as they feel the lacking foundations and familiarity of their homeland, the roots which they no longer hold. Some take on new roles as migrant workers and conceal the pain of separation and loss of identity. Many contribute to the brain drain. When the best minds of our generations leave, the country is left in need of newborn spirit and knowledge.

Some have to remain and may never dxepart. “Slaves” stay behind, watching friends, colleagues, and lovers leave for peace. They stay, not by choice, but because they have nothing. They work in corporations, where monotonous 9-5 days blend and nights lack the presence of those who have left. They endure silently, clinging to the fragments of their lives as everything else fades away. They adopt new identities—corporate slaves, smiling and nodding while longing for something more. In their despair, they find empowerment in the community. While grieving the loss of those long gone, they unite with those still present, drawing strength from each other.

At night, when the city is dark, only life flickers in the worn-out apartments of youth. They push through each day, mindlessly, eager to escape a place they call home. Political turmoil and social upheaval have shattered their dreams, leaving them with one desire: to escape. The Passport Office, Embassies, visa agents: all these spaces are covered with the overlapping footsteps of youth. This character “cow” represents many youths running hard, sometimes quietly and sometimes loudly, trying to gather whatever they can to escape. When they do leave, they carry memories of a homeland that no longer feels like home. In their pursuit, they lose parts of themselves, shadows occupy parts of who they were.
These three stories show a generation trapped between present and future, sadness and hope, staying and leaving.

They are shaped by trauma, shared suffering, and coping identities. They form trauma links with others to find momentary consolation in shared suffering, but these bonds keep them tethered to their agony and prevent true serenity. Their new identities comfort them but leave them disoriented. Perhaps there is a flare of light in the shadows, a reminder that even in terrible times, we can develop, heal, and reclaim ourselves with others

Photography Project

Showcased for
Be All Ears Program

2023

Daybreak and Nightfall

This project encapsulates the passage of time in monochromatic daybreaks and nightfalls.

The purpose is to portray the present mental state of Burmese citizens during times of crisis, offering a profound reflection on polarized coup experiences.

Through the lens of daybreaks and nightfalls, I invites the viewer into introspection into the sacrifices made in pursuit of collective goals.

Photography Project

EU Youth Conference

2025

here comes the spring

At the end of the day, we just want to relax with loved ones despite how the coup worsens daily and the internal pressures of finding money to feed ourselves.

This photo showing people playing cards isn't about universalizing our need for electricity, but rather a manifestation of hope for a brighter future.

A day when we can finally rest under the light that was taken from our families in a room where we can someday see the ocean.

Photography Project

Commissioned by
Bard College
CCE

2025

There is nothing that inspired me to create these. I just try to pitch the open call what I am feeling at that time with all the lonely and loveless days I am encountering. Luckily, I became one of the four local artists that ceremonially decorated around 4 places around the village.

Creatives’ works blossom from inside but are not inspired by external circumstances. External circumstances are always means, not ends.

The real inspiration comes from inside. These photos bloomed within me. I came from the equatorial region with your classic dictator narrative country.

In Burma, there is neither snow nor cold, only heat and guns. But when I arrived here in Hudson, all I saw was snow—white, lifeless things with heated locals and students who tried to warm themselves up in their cocoons.

Like that, spring came; I made friends with classmates and connected more with faculties.

Now when I go back to my place in Red Hook on the shuttle, I can still see that little silhouette of an individual in -15°C holding his 3 bags, waiting for the taxi to pick him up in every lasting field of white sparkle.

Photos

Selected from Practices

2022 - 2026

I played with my mom's Nokia phone when I was young. Not playing your typical, tic-tac-toe game but playing with that small 2 MP camera and took family photos.

Iphone out, digital camera bombed, and got a chance to test the high megapixel lens.

I had new lenses, new cameras, and new trends to create with new products, but I lost.

I lost myself in new things, new cameras, and new trends, but never had a chance to find my originality and integrity in my photos, in myself. I paused my creative journey and took a break for two years.

After two years, I found a phone, an old iPhone with a broken camera. I want to challenge myself to stand back and walk to the side of photography with this broken camera that cannot produce sharp images, clear photos, or stable diffusion, but with my eyes, I see the lines, shapes, and morphic fields that will support me for what my creation is and where my originality is.

If you asked why my photos are always blurry with human figures or if you wondered if I enclosed myself in one style, I am going to say no.

It is more than that; rather than being enclosed, I am opening a new way for myself and upcoming generations to see things poetically, even in worse situations where our futures are nothing but blurry.

I thought I am gonna be photographer untill I found mysefl besotted by swiss design.

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voninovk® Archive
220 Bowery, SoHo, NY 10012