Let me share with you the roots of this wild creative journey.

It all started in Thailand in 2006, after Kevin and I had returned there from the Netherlands.  We had just finished our Masters in Development Studies and were continuing to work with internally displaced people and refugees. After we returned to Thailand, Kevin and I would often be apart for long periods of time because of work. 

It was during this time that I met Saw Chu Cil. He had been living in exile in the Thai-Burma border since the 1990s with his wife and child. Chu Cil was a Karen professional realist painter (the Karen are one of the biggest ethnic nationalities in Burma) and I was impressed with his art. He was adept at the use of colour and so skillful in his portrayals, using the most basic materials. I saw an opportunity to fill my time and learn a new skill so I asked him if he could teach me. Delightfully, he said yes and I became his eager student. I looked forward to my weekly sessions with him, biking to his house through the streets of Mae Sot in Thailand, where thousands of Burmese refugees and migrants lived. 

I would have my lessons sitting on the pavement of his driveway, often using the most basic of materials – sometimes curtain material for canvas, precious watercolour paper taped or clipped to hard board, craft store brushes, student-grade watercolours and acrylic – using whatever was available as our subjects, like a bowl of fresh fruits that were in season. I also learned shading, perspective and egghead illustrations with him along with other art techniques.

Chu Cil was a realist painter who came from a family of artists and he often told me that painting realistically is easier than conceptualizing a painting. It was easier to paint a bowl of fruit and landscapes than to go to my inner life and create art from within. As Chu Cil’s student, I learned the fundamentals of realist painting and then later experimented with abstracts and semi-abstracts (learning from other painter mentors in different countries where we lived – but that’s another story). 

Today I create from a place of intuition, while responding to events, and issues around me and around the world. I am still learning to respect where I am in this journey, recognising there is still much to learn and much to integrate.

I have been wanting to write my origin story since the February 1 coup that happened in Burma. As you know Burma, now called Myanmar, had been under total military dictatorship since 1962 with a brief experiment in quasi-democracy between 2015 and 2020. Today demonstrations have erupted again with human rights activists, journalists, progressives arbitrarily arrested after another military take-over. As these events unfolded, I had my mentor in my mind and was thinking of his exile and that of thousands more. Life has been so difficult for the ethnic nationalities with the attacks of the military, the limitations on their right to education, health, land, and food security. The Burmese have been struggling for freedom for decades. But they hold on to their dignity, identity, voice and culture.  We all need freedom, voice and dignity. Saw Chu Cil found his voice and his freedom - in the art of making, and in the dignity in how he lived his life.

Kevin and I lived in Thailand for a large part of our working life and the many wonderful friendships and work experiences we have from there will forever be with me. I wish I can meet Saw Chu Cil again, but I have no idea where he has moved and I tried many times to find ways to reconnect. But I will forever be grateful for his gentle soft-spoken guidance and welcoming me to his home and family life. Cheers Saw Chu Cil, may you still be creating beautiful art and may your country find lasting peace.

In the end, my mentor taught me so much more than painting, he helped me find my freedom in art. I wish you have a day full of freedoms!

And as always, thank you for your support.