In 1988, hundreds of thousands of Burmese took to the streets, demanding an end to military rule. The military responded with violence, killing an estimated 3,000, imprisoning another 3,000, and driving some 10,000 to exile. But the conflict birthed a group of activists, artists, writers, and leaders whose participation would shape Myanmar in the years to come — particularly over the past decade, as the country began to open to the outside world.
One of these artists was Htein Lin. A member of the so-called “88 Generation,” Htein Lin fled Myanmar in the aftermath of the failed pro-democracy revolution and returned in the early 1990s, only to be arrested in 1998 — along with dozens of others — for planning a demonstration to mark the 10th anniversary of the uprising. He spent six years in Myanmar’s notorious prison system where he was subjected to abuse and torture. Still, Htein Lin made art: painting on sarongs and uniforms, carving portraits into bars of soap.
