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Zwe Mon

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For Zwe Mon, art has always been a way of preserving stories of people, places and things.  Although her paintings bear a variety of themes and subjects – from historical figures and profound social and environmental issues to heritage buildings of Yangon increasingly under threat from modern development – they all have one thing in common; they are all a record made in tribute by the artist.  To Zwe Mon, art has the power of traveling across borders and time, along with her stories of life in Myanmar.

 Zwe Mon grew up in Yangon.  Her father is a long time comic artist and has encouraged her passion for art since her childhood.  She studied painting at the Yangon State School of Fine Arts and graduated in 2009.

Zwe Mon is known for her use of combs, knife strokes and newspaper in her artwork, Zwe Mon continues to experiment with mixed materials, citing Co Thiee, Than Kyaw Htay and K Kyaw as her mentors.  Life, like art, is a struggle for Zwe Mon, who has had to resort to working as a jewelry designer for 40 hours a week to make ends meet to sustain her artist profession.  Similarly, Zwe Mon’s art incorporating a variety of colors, textures and sometimes written words, struggles to transcend narrow boundaries and artificial demarcations imposed on an artist, in terms of subjects, medium or resources.  She now resides in Yangon with her parents and son. She had one solo exhibition and participated in more than 30 exhibitions locally and internationally, Hong Kong and US.