For most people around the world, the sight of a plane flying overhead still brings a thrill. Children, especially, gaze up at planes in wonder as almost magical objects, while for adults, planes often spark fond thoughts, be they cherished memories of past trips or dreams of a new adventure.
In Myanmar today, however, planes have starkly different associations. Aircraft in the sky are no longer marvels of technology; rather, they are triggers of trauma and symbols of death and destruction.
For Myanmar people, more than three years of deadly regime airstrikes against civilian targets have turned planes into monsters that swoop from the sky. The sound of their engines has become a grim reminder of the lives of the many hundreds of children and other innocent civilians lost in aerial bombardments, the suffering of those who have been displaced and whose lives have been otherwise devastated, and the faces of children whose sense of a secure future has been stolen from them.
To shed light on the devastating toll of the junta’s deadly airstrikes, and the resilience of the human spirit as demonstrated by survivors, Myanmar artistic collective New Burma is holding an exhibition on the topic in Bangkok, with an associated panel discussion held on Thursday.
The ongoing exhibition in the Thai capital, titled “When We See the Planes”, brings together works in various media by Myanmar artists, including painters and filmmakers, and photojournalists.
The works include photos of the aftermath of the junta’s indiscriminate airstrikes on civilian targets—which have not spared schools, religious buildings or hospitals—in Karenni, Karen, Kachin and Shan states, as well as paintings of the airstrikes, illustrations, collage works, a short documentary, video pieces and sound installations.
Shin Thant, a member of an anti-coup protest committee in Sagaing Region, said at Thursday’s panel discussion that before the coup, children in the Anyar region, as central Myanmar is known, would look up at the sky excitedly whenever they saw a plane, waving at it and even chasing the aircraft. But now, every time they see or hear a plane in flight, they rush back into their homes or hiding places, reliving past traumatic experiences.
He said people are dying on a daily basis due to the junta’s brutality, and called on international governments to take effective steps to save the lives of Myanmar people. Sagaing Region, a resistance stronghold, is among the areas worst hit by junta airstrikes.
According to research group Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica, the regime conducted 2,471 airstrikes between Feb. 1, 2021 and April 30 this year, killing at least 1,295 people.
In the first four months of this year, 359 civilians including 61 children were killed in junta airstrikes, the group stated.
Ma Hnin, a founder of New Burma, told The Irrawaddy that the event aimed to raise awareness of the devastating impact the Myanmar military junta’s airstrikes were having on civilians, and also to persuade the international community to impose sanctions against the junta to cut off its supply of jet fuel.
“Only if we can stop the supply of jet fuel, will the deadly airstrikes be reduced,” she said.
The exhibit drew over a hundred viewers in its first few days, comprising an impressive mix of young Thai activists, members of the Myanmar diaspora, diplomats, academics and people from third countries.
“They have jet fighters. But we only have paper flights,” Ma Hnin told the audience as she described the aim of the exhibition at the panel on Thursday. She was referring to paper planes, which featured in the exhibit as a symbol of creative resistance to the junta. At the end of the panel session, attendees wrote messages expressing solidarity with people in Myanmar on the paper planes.
The exhibition continues through June 2 at Studio Fluff in Bangkok. It is open daily from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
