About Borderline

2013 is the eighth year that the MY STORY photo project has exhibited work from its photo workshops at Borderline Gallery. We are excited to welcome work from Nat and Susan Tileston’s students for another year.

This year, workshops were held with Puzzlebox Art Studio & Kick-Start Art staff from Mae Sot; community workers in Pyin Oo Lwin, Burma; women from the Pa-O Women’s Union in Mae Hong Son; and Tibetan refugees at a transit school in McLeodganj, India. You will be astounded by the imagination these students showed. Jack Kerouac, a famous American writer from the 1950s, once told photographer Robert Frank, ‘You got eyes!’. We can say the same for this year’s photographers: ‘They got eyes!’

Please join us for the opening of MY STORY Photo Project 8 on Thursday, April 4th, 6 – 9 pm. We will have delicious refreshments from Borderline’s Tea Garden as usual. The young artists from Mae Sot will be at the exhibition early if you’d like to chat with them.

Prints are for sale, with half the proceeds going to the photographer and half going to the project for the purchase of new cameras.

MY STORY photo project would like to thank the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives for its support of the workshops with Kick-Start Art and the Pa-O Women’s Union. And of course a great big THANKS to the 36 photographers!

On Thursday, January 24th, Borderline presents a dual exhibition “Where I’m From,” exploring images from home through photographs of New York by Nancy Chuang and watercolors of Shan State by Ko Aung Latt. This will be the first exhibition at Borderline Gallery for both Nancy Chuang and Ko Aung Latt as featured artists.

Nancy Chuang is a documentary photographer from New York who has lived in Mae Sot since 2010. She shoots all her work on 35mm or medium-format film and processes it herself. She enjoys street and subway photography, and has also worked on projects studying the Burmese Buddhist community in New York and the now-defunct “Shoot the Freak” carnival game in Coney Island. She is best at depicting quirky realism.

Ko Aung Latt is an engineer by trade, but an artist by passion. He travels around Shan State from his native Taunggyi to paint watercolor landscapes from life, spending hours in a single location to get the scene right. Upon retirement in 2009, he established his own gallery in Nyaungshwe (Inle Lake). He aims to show the audience the quiet beauty of everyday Shan life.

The exhibition opens on January 24th from 6-9PM, and runs until February 5th. Delicious refreshments available from Borderline’s Tea Garden as usual. See you there!

This Thursday December 6th, we will open a new exhibition by member artist Htut Aung. Htut Aung studied at the University of Fine Art in Yangon and worked as an illustrator for many years before moving to Mae Sot. His new exhibition explores the scenes of his homeland and portraits of the beloved Aung San Suu Kyi. Htut Aung’s preferred mediums are oil and acrylic.

The opening will be from 6-9PM this Thursday, with delicious refreshments from the Tea Garden as always. Please feel free to discuss the artworks with Htut Aung and give feedback. The exhibition will last until December 20th.

Thank you, and see you this week at Borderline!

This month, Borderline Gallery presents an extra exhibition! Longtime member U Soe Win will present a new collection of paintings from Saturday, November 24th until December 4th.

U Soe Win comes from Mawlamyine—the capital of Mon State—and has been exhibiting his artwork in Thailand and Myanmar for many years. His speciality is portraits of minority ethnic peoples, and his preferred mediums are acrylic and oil.

The opening will be from 6PM-9PM on November 24th. Delicious Burmese refreshments from Borderline’s Tea Garden will be served as usual. U Soe Win also welcomes your questions or comments, but please ask a staff member or affiliated artist of Borderline for translation help. Thanks for supporting Borderline!

“NEVER STAND STILL” is a multiple medium exhibition coming to Borderline Gallery on November 8th. Despite Sein Sein Lin’s long involvement in the Mae Sot community, years of work as the Gallery’s curator, and many group and partner exhibitions, this is only her second solo exhibition!

Sein Sein Lin is a full-time artist, with past experience in Yangon as an illustrator for magazines and comic books. Now she mentors young artists at Puzzlebox Art Studio, and has taken the opportunity of working at Puzzlebox to improve her batik-painting and ceramics skills. In this new exhibition, she will show traditional watercolor and acrylic paintings, along with batik wall-hangings and large sculpted ceramic tiles. Sein Sein Lin wants to show that after so many years working in art, she still has so much she wants to learn.

Come enjoy the opening on Thursday 6-9, where we’ll serve delicious Burmese refreshments from the Tea Garden as always. Sein Sein Lin is always happy to chat about her art and inspirations. The exhibition will continue until November 22nd. Looking forward to seeing you there!

We loved having an exhibition last year in Chiang Mai–only our second time exhibiting out of Mae Sot–and we’re really hoping to do it again. Will it be in Chiang Mai again? Or maybe Bangkok? We’re not sure yet, because traveling out of Mae Sot with our artwork requires more funds than we currently have.

We realize it’s been a difficult financial year for many organizations in Mae Sot, and our gallery could also use some help. Exhibiting outside of Mae Sot is an exciting and validating experience for our exiled Burmese artists, giving them great exposure and potential sales with a new audience.

For the whole month of October, we’re having a fundraiser exhibition. Our member artists have generously donated two pieces each to the gallery, sales of which will go into a special traveling exhibition fund. There’s more to choose from besides what’s hanging on the wall; all our members have selections archived in the gallery storage space! Please ask gallery curator Bobo to see more pieces.

Thank you for your continued support to Borderline Gallery! We will update everyone if we’re able to do a traveling show in early 2013.