Kaung Su

The Red Paint series is a documentation of one of the many creative forms of protest conducted by the throngs of citizens marking the death of over 700 people in Myanmar as of April 2021. As a resident of Yangon, Kaung Su experienced the energy of the streets and the fear of violence in the early weeks after the coup. Once the military began firing live rounds on protestors, methods had to change to keep citizens safe. Acts of protest came in many forms – a driving boycott, a business boycott, a longyi (sarong) protest and, pictured here, the red paint protest. Imagine Kaung Su walking the streets of Yangon, on overpasses and under bridges. Was he the one who threw the tin of red paint and then documented it? Or was he simply documenting the acts of others? Whichever it was, the red paint symbolizes the blood spilt by the military’s soldiers in the streets. Thousands have died since and still counting…

Son and Last Blood are two in the same series of charcoal drawings done in the weeks after the coup. The atmosphere of the protests changed when the military began using live rounds on protestors and the first young people were shot and killed. Kaung Su’s works are dedicated to young people who sacrificed their lives for the Spring Revolution. Fathers lost their sons. Families have empty chairs at their dinner tables. As an artist, Kaung Su uses charcoal to illustrate the tears of the lost and the feelings of darkness and hopelessness.