Sawangwongse Yawnghwe

Sawangwongse Yawnghwe was born in 1971 in an area of the Shan State controlled by rebels. However, Yawnghwe spent his youth in Thailand, until his family fled to Canada following a failed assassination attempt on his father.

Today, Sawangwongse lives and works in the Netherlands. In his paintings and installations, he explores politics through his family history as a descendant of the royal family of Yawnghwe from Shan, as well as current and historical events in Myanmar (formerly Burma). Family photographs form the foundation of his visual language, which he uses to examine these events and show that existing archives cannot reveal the full truth of a country.

At the invitation of RHIZOMA, Sawangwongse Yawnghwe presents some of his monumental canvases for the first time in Belgium, in combination with new work realised in MASEREEL’s studio.