Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia

The censorship regime of the SLORC-SPDC era (1988–2011) shaped the development of Burmese art, not only imposing limitations on artists but also driving them to develop a new artistic vocabulary. This vocabulary is crucial to the understanding of contemporary Burmese visual art and to explaining the persistence of censorship in the post-2011 semi-civilian era. Instead of being silenced, Burmese artists learned to speak with a voice that was more subtle, but no less potent. Interviews conducted with Burmese painters, curators and a current member of the Censorship Board provide a first-hand perspective on how experimental artists and the state struggled to define national identity under the SPDC-SLORC regime.