He is inspired by his community and greater society, which will be readily apparent through his exhibition. His preferred mediums are watercolor and acrylic.

Artist U Soe Win lives with his family in the city Mawlamyine, the capital of Mon State. Throughout his many years as a working artist, he has made many different exhibitions inside Burma and at Borderline Gallery. This time, the artist hopes to express new inspirations, new ideas and new styles. Please come and share your suggestions and ideas to U Soe Win.

Traditional Burmese foods will be provided by the Borderline kitchen as usual.

The Build Project is a non-profit organization that runs the Institute of Academic and Practical Studies (IAPS) in Mae Sot, Thailand. IAPS works with Burmese migrants aged 18 to 24, and aims to provide the education and skills necessary for the students to become leaders in the community.

Everyone at IAPS sincerely looks forward to seeing you at the exhibition.

http://www.buildproject.org/

Htut Aung from Yangon spent his earlier years as a commercial artist and magazine illustrator. These days, he is also fond of landscapes and scenes that express the lives of Burmese people. His preferred medium is oil.

The artist is looking forward to discussing his works and inspirations with visitors. Please feel free to ask any questions!

The opening will be on Thursday, 1st December from 6-9 pm and will continue until the 15th. Delicious Burmese food and drinks will be prepared by the Borderline Tea Garden.

In addition to our fair-trade handicrafts, we’d like to remind you that we have many books and DVDs on offer. Most of these come from Best Friend Library and support their work with migrant education and raising awareness of Burma issues. Best Friend Library currently offers buy any book, get a free DVD.

We also stock informative books and DVDs from other orgs such as Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG), Thai-Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), School for Shan Students Nationalities Youth (SSSNY), and Mae Tao Clinic.

Don’t forget our artists! If you’re not quite ready to buy a painting but would like to support our artists living on the border, we have many types of art cards for sale: from postcards to handmade one-of-a-kind watercolor cards.

Borderline is currently offering free gifts with minimum purchase. Click on the poster image above to see what gifts you can choose from for purchases worth 1000 baht, 2000 baht, and 3000 baht. Thanks for supporting Borderline!

The Karen brothers both undertook formal art studies in Rangoon before eventually making their way to Mae Sot, and are both fortunate enough to make a living as full-time artists here. They primarily use watercolors and acrylics, and focus on depicting local people and nature. Both brothers are fascinated by the beauty of light, and incorporate this light into their works.

The artists are eager to discuss their works and inspirations with visitors. Please feel free to ask them any questions!

The opening will be on Thursday 10th November from 6-9 pm and will continue until the 24th. Delicious Burmese food and drinks will be prepared by the Borderline Tea Garden.

The day before the show, the Borderline crew of Bobo, Sein Sein Lin, Sandy and Nancy was joined by the incredible Patrick, Jasmine and Mike of The Puzzlebox Art Studio to transport art and tons of handicrafts from Mae Sot to Chiang Mai, and all worked together to hang the beautiful exhibition. With tasty desserts donated by The Best Friend Library and a full bar at Sangdee, it was quite the party. Take a look at more photos on our Facebook page! And add us while you’re at it!

It was great to see a few faces familiar to us from Mae Sot, and to discuss the border situation with Chiang Mai residents and tourists who’ve never been out here. Thanks so much to Shawn and Po at Sangdee for all their support in promoting the show, and to Jeffro for providing energetic blues guitar accompaniment.

Thursday night was Sangdee’s weekly jam session, and on Saturday night, Best Friend Library held a screening of the acclaimed “Burma Soldier” documentary. This was followed by a talk with Aung, an ex-Burmese Soldier now living in Chiang Mai. Both events had great turnouts, and gave more people a chance to check out the new exhibition.

Borderline’s curator Bobo will stay with the show through the closing date, November 10th. He’s been available evenings from 5-10PM to explain the artworks and artists’ migrant circumstances to any visitors who drop by. Please do continue to visit–we’d love to introduce Borderline to as many people as possible!

Participating artists are A Hein Kyaw, Bobo, Htut Aung, Ko Win Htet, La Sam, Myat Thein Zaw, Nid, Sein Sein Lin, Saw Poe Dah, Saw Wi Htun, U Soe Win and Wunna Zaw. Our artists come from a variety of backgrounds and a range of inspirations; please check out their bios here on our website.

Sangdee gallery is a beautiful space located in the trendy Nimmanhaemin area of Chiang Mai, on a quiet soi off Sirimangkhalajarn. We’re really looking forward to meeting new friends in Chiang Mai and discussing the border situation with them. Bobo and Sein Sein Lin will be traveling to the event to share their experiences with those unfamiliar with life in Mae Sot.

Borderline will also be bringing our fair-trade handicrafts to sell, and The Best Friend Library will be on-site to sell DVDs, t-shirts, books to support their work for the people of Burma. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Sein Sein Lin is Borderline Gallery’s only female member artist, always bringing a different, fresh perspective to her works. For this exhibition, she was inspired by her dreams, as well as her new experiences overseas. Sein Sein Lin uses many different mediums, including water color, acrylic and oil.

Saw Wi Htun also visualized his dreams through his work, using his favorite medium: acrylic. Saw Wi Htun describes his challenges by saying, “Dreams are so difficult to catch and turn into still images”.

We as the viewers are welcomed by the artists to explore their dreams through their work. The exhibition is a great opportunity to ask Sein Sein Lin and Saw Wi Htun to describe their inspirations.

The opening will be on Thursday 6th Oct from 6-9 pm and will continue until 21st Oct. Delicious Burmese refreshment will be prepared by the Borderline Kitchen.

“Striking Beauty” is Wanna Zaw’s second solo exhibition at Borderline and opens Thursday, September 8th. Please join us from 6 pm – 9 pm to enjoy these new pieces and meet the artist. Snacks and drinks will be provided by Borderline Tea Garden.

We hope to see you on Thursday,
BORDERLINE GALLERY

We still need to continue fundraising, however. In addition to gallery rental fees, we need transportation costs for the artwork as well as for a few of our artists who are able to travel out of Mae Sot. Rather than putting up a new solo show in August, we have renewed our special fundraising exhibition featuring multiple member artists. New pieces have been added, many of which are donations by our members that can be used to raise money for the Chiang Mai exhibition.

We are also happy to take donations of course, and have placed donation boxes in Borderline’s shop. We greatly appreciate the contributions we received during our anniversary party, and would be thankful for any additional funds we can put towards this traveling show. This would be a wonderful experience for our member artists, so we’d love all the support we can get. Thank you!

Please see photos of our fundraising exhibition below, and be sure to visit us during the month of August!