“Burma is a country different from what you know”
Rudyard Kipling, writer (1865-1936)
The main components that return regularly as a source of photographic interests in Burma are for me: The very diverse population, pervasive religion and agriculture country’s main resource.
Burma includes, in addition to the Burman majority of strain, more than 130 ethnic minorities with their own languages and cultures. They form almost a third of the population and occupy more than half the territory. Seven national ethnic groups are recognized by the government: Shans, Môns, Karens, Chins, Kachins, Kayah, and Rakhine.
The heterogeneity of this population is the source of many sectarian problems experienced by the country, including attacks by security forces inflicted on the Muslims, Rohingya especially in 2012 before an international silence and the recently persecution dramatic Muslim villages perpetrated at the behest of Buddhist monks.
Buddhism in Myanmar is predominantly of tradition Theravada, practiced by 89% of the population. This is the most religious Buddhist country in terms of the proportion of monks in the population and the proportion of income spent on religion. The monks are integrated into Burmese society. Among many ethnic groups in Burma, including the Burmese and the Shan, Theravada Buddhism is practiced in conjunction with the culte nat.
Agriculture is one of the main sectors of Burma, as are forestry, textile, jewelery and mining industry and the oil industry.
Rice is the main agricultural product of the country, it occupies about 60% of cultivated areas and represents 97% of total grain production by weight. In 2006, Burmese rice production reached 25.2 million tonnes.
Other agricultural production concern sugarcane, corn, peanuts, wheat, millet, cotton and tobacco.
They came to beat the ears of rice and harvest the seeds.
All together, the owners of the field, supportive friends,
they help each other, it’s normal, it’s tradition
in the region of Sagaing between Mandalay and Monywa
and surely elsewhere in Burma.
There are two rice crops a year, but for twenty years the amount of rain fell. So they use ingenious methods of water retention ponds to irrigate their paddy fields during the dry season.
During the summer season, they are in the field as early as 4 or 5 am, then take shelter from the heat at midday to take hard work to 16 hours until nightfall taking advantage of the cooler hours.
During a trip to Burma scenes that occur most often with always the same photographic curiosity loans are a people full of life, optimism and hope that we often see in the markets, populations ethnic surprising in their traditions to maintain a lifestyle away from the modernity of the rest of the country and finally the magnificent buildings built over time and make history and heritage of Burma.
The problems of cohabitation between the many ethnic groups, especially between minorities and the majority ethnic bama, are very old. They have increased the difficulty of achieving national construction.
The Burmese history is thus marked by mutual mistrust and open conflict, interspersed with national integration initiatives within a federal framework.
The huge défits which must address the new democratic government, in place since April 1, 2016, will unify and pacify the country.
And maybe this unified ethnic diversity will be an additional wealth for this country so different, so rich in treasures. (Photo: Woman Akha)
Why markets create such photographic attractiveness to the point I resumed the subject tirelessly to perfect the risk of repeating myself?
I feel they synthesize the life and culture of the country, even more, they are the soul, the body and mind together. When we Burmese can we avoid going to the pagoda at the hairdresser, the restaurant, but the market is unavoidable. This is the only place that creates the need to make to feed them, dress, sale, find the things necessary to existence. It therefore becomes a must for each and a “human crossroads” exhilarating for the photographer who will try to return as close atmosphere, diversity, impressions, emotions, colors almost smells and noises.
Bagan, Mandalay, Yangon, Kakku, Pindaya, Mrauk-U, Mingun, Piu Alin, Po Win, Samkar … and many other places marked by time and history and participate in the rich cultural Myanmar. (Photo: Temple in Mrauk-U)
The best known: Bagan, is a large Buddhist archaeological site of nearly 50 square kilometers in the region of Mandalay in the central plain of Burma, on the left bank of Irrawaddy. From the ninth century to the thirteenth century, it was the capital of the kingdom of Pagan, the first Burmese empire. Occupied by several villages or hamlets often built near temples groups, it is in a seismic zone and has undergone many earthquakes which caused serious damage. An inventory lists 2834 monuments, many of them in ruins.
They are all different, but unique.
They betray their expressions and their eyes a piece of their lives, filled with sorrow, joy or hope.
Markets are inexhaustible sources of portraits that aggregates buyers and sellers. They are very lively, especially early in the morning. They are the life, the soul, the spirit of Burma and its miniature representation.
Colorful clothes of different ethnicities still give more expression to the pictorial scene.
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