RANGOON— Two piles of charcoal stoves, bricks, cooking pots and food stand side by side in Ma Aye Chann Mon’s painting “Amay Latyar” which means “mother’s homecooking.”
It is one of 500 works of art by Burmese women on display in the Myanmar Ladies Art Exhibition that opens on Friday at the Yangon Gallery.
“I want to show that women’s hands, which used to hold salt, oil, knives and spoons, can also hold the paintbrush and can paint,” organizer of the exhibition Daw Nwe Nwe Ye said.
The 78-year-old artist said the exhibition—which brings together works of 136 female artists from Rangoon, Mandalay, Irrawaddy and Pegu Divisions—aims to redress the often overlooked art created by women.
“Women don’t often paint scenery because they can’t go outside as much as men—they paint while they are cooking and doing household chores,” she said. Many of their paintings are still life works of pots, dishes, vegetables and fruits.
The artists featured in the exhibition range in age from teenagers to women in their eighties and include teachers, engineers, doctors, writers, and students working in acrylics, watercolor, ink on paper, colored pencil, mixed medium, collages and gem art.
“I’m happy to be able to participate in the exhibition along with senior women artists,” said Ma Kyal Cin Thit, a 14-year-old graffiti artist from Rangoon who has seven paintings on show at the exhibition.
Another artist, Ma Soe Pa Pa Myint, said that more and more women are participating in art exhibitions and competitions.
The exhibition opens on Friday and will run until Dec. 6 at Yangon Gallery at the People’s Park Compound on Ahlone Road, in Rangoon. The gallery is open from 9am to 5pm.
