Htein Lin: Pursuing Art and Liberation

Insight Myanmar

Episode #120: On Thursday, August 25th, 2022, the accomplished artist and longtime activist, Htein Lin, was arrested along with his wife, Vicki Bowman. We had only just recently interviewed him, so hearing this news was doubly shocking.

Htein Lin became was involved in the 1988 uprising in opposition to the military junta, and experienced guerilla warfare as a member of the revolutionary group, All Burma Students’ Democratic Front. While living in a reconnaissance camp along the Indian border, Htein Lin met an artist from Mandalay who became his mentor. Together they discussed art and painting techniques, and Htein Lin’s passion for art grew.

Then in 1998, Htein Lin was arrested for nearly seven years when the letter of an old friend, a retired school teacher, was intercepted by the Tatmadaw. In prison, he continued to work as an artist, using objects found around the jail, such as pieces of glass, dismantled cigarette lighters, and syringes, etc. He even staged an art exhibition of this work for guards and prisoners.

At one point, Htein Lin was transferred to Death Row. He and a poet friend were confined more than 23 hours per day with serious criminals, including at least two murderers. Yet his new neighbors offered up the one thing in their possession: their white, prison-issue sarongs as cloth upon which Htein Lin could continue to paint.

Then just as suddenly, he was released. After returning to civil society, Htein Lin became increasingly involved in artists’ discussion groups and experimental performance art. He met and married his wife, Vicki Bowman, the former British ambassador to Burma. Together, they sought and found meaningful spiritual community in Dhamma Dipa, a vipassana meditation center in the tradition of SN Goenka. This led to further awakening and integration of his life and art: “If you are living in the present without reacting, without anger, and [if you] share in anything negative, sharing with loving-kindness and compassion in you, you become a very beautiful piece of art.”

May his equanimity be of support to Htein Lin in his recent re-arrest.