Chaw-Ei-Thein on freeDimensional

How I got back the energy and confidence to keep doing...

Tue, 06 May 2014 00:00:00 +0000

By: Chaw Ei Thein

In 2006, I came to New York for a yearlong artist residency program and during that time, I was warned that my safety could not be assured if I were to return to Burma. The reason I could not return was my artwork, interviews I had given with the international media and newspaper articles about my work as it related to a critique of the political situation in Burma at that time. Unable to return home, I was facing very difficult time settling in to life in New York; I was totally frustrated and very worried about how to live, find a way to survive and uncertain as to whether I could continue my career as an artist in this new place with its new challenges.

SAVE THE DATE! APRIL 25 - fD Exhibition Fundraiser - FRAGILE STATES

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

freeDimensional in partnership with the Brian Morris Gallery invites you to attend a group exhibition launch and fundraiser, Fragile States, on April 25, from 6-9PM.

Fragile States is an exploration of the physical and psychological experiences of persecution and forced displacement. The artists featured in the exhibition share a common experience of having to leave their country of origin after facing threats, violent assault, imprisonment or torture as a result of using their creative practice to voice the concerns of their communities.

1ST BREAK OUT : Exhibition by Kyaw Thu - 25-27 May - New York City

Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

First Breakout – Artistic Expressions from the Heart – Exhibition by Kyaw Thu

“I have been denied all rights to artistic creation in Myanmar since September 2007, when I offered alms and water to monks walking in peaceful protest and reciting prayers of love during the Saffron Revolution, all the way to my current visit to the United States. I would like to call it the first breakout, the first artistic expressions from the heart, to be able to publicly exhibit the heartfelt works I have painted during my visit to America.” - Kyaw Thu (film actor, director, producer, painter, undertaker)

Chaw Ei Thein featured in NYFA's Immigrant Artist Project Newsletter

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Chaw Ei Thein (2011 Mentee Alum, Burma), is a painter and performance artist whose work stems from her contrasting experiences of growing up in a politically oppressive Burma and then shifting to a very different landscape in the United States. Chaw Ei’s emotionally charged work of addressing these conflicts in her native country has earned her critical acclaim, awards, and residencies in the U.S. and abroad. However, it has also forced her to live in political exile in which returning to her native country could mean reprisal from the Burmese government. Between her experiences in the U.S. and her desire to return home, Chaw Ei balances multiple tensions in her work. She shares how she deals with her experience and how she has found her Mentorship with Alexandra Pacula in the NYFA Mentoring Program helpful to her artistic career and personal pursuits. The Mentoring Program collaborated with freeDimensional to pair Chaw Ei with her Mentor.

fD participates in Creative Time's 'Living as Form' exhibition - Friday, September 30 @ Essex Street Market

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

On Friday, September 30, from 4pm to 8pm, performance artist and painter Chaw Ei Thein and radio journalist Lawman Lynch will create “social space” in Creative Time’s ‘Living as Form’ exhibition at the Essex Street Market. [www.creativetime.org/livingasform]

Transit Lounge/Waiting Room captures the experiences of fD’s New York stakeholders (artists displaced from their home countries as a result of their artistic activism) through http://www.gooakley.com/ performance, visual art, and video interviews. Transit Lounge/Waiting Room will highlight the situation in Burma, in particular the continual attacks on free expression. It explores the experience of displacement and acclimatization to a new environment when an artist is forced to depart their home country.

Being (T)here: Creating in the Borderlands

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Last night (6 Dec 2010) at the historic Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York City, writer/painter Breyten Breytenbach (South Africa), poet/painter Huang Xiang (China), and performance artists Chaw Ei Thein and Ye Taik (Burma) explored the concept of Art in Exile via text, conversation, and live performances. freeDimensional has been working with Chaw ei Thein over the last year as she filed for political asylum in the US and acclimates to the New York City art scene. For her performance last night, she provided the following note:

Chaw ei Thein Fights Burma's Junta with Performance and Paintings {World Policy Blog #3}

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0000

In one of the busiest street markets in Yangon, Myanmar (Burma), Chaw Ei Thein and a friend, the artist Htein Lin, created a performance to comment on the inflated prices under the current Burmese government. They sold small items like candy and ribbons for miniscule amounts of money. They were arrested, and would have been jailed if the police were too busy to see the arrest through. Their performative acts, criticizing a government where civil rights and freedom of speech is limited, led to Thein’s exile from her country.