In Myanmar, currently in the throes of a new coup by its military leaders, freedom of speech, including art and media, has perennially been suffocated, leaving local people desperate for a voice.

Flash forward to today, and during daily street rallies in the country’s major cities, the atmosphere often has the feel of a cultural carnival.

Graffiti artists have spray-painted messages mocking Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the army chief who staged the coup. Poets have declaimed in angry verse. A cartoonists’ union has marched holding hand-drawn figures. Street dancers have twirled with abandon.

This video – the first in a series of seven, whose production predates Myanmar’s present coup – draws on the need for self-expression at all costs, reflecting on the use of street art as a weapon.

View the original video, and the others in the series, here.

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