Thuma Collective’s Yu Yu Myint Than & Shwe Wutt Hmon on residency in Switzerland

Photographers YuYu Myint Than and Shwe Wutt Hmon of the Myanmar women’s photography collective, Thuma Collective, will be at Villa Sträuli in Switzerland. This is the very first residency of Myanmar artists in Swtizerland to be organised by Pro Helvetia, and has been done so in collaboration with local partner Myanmar Deitta.

Yu Yu Myint Than is a Myanmar documentary photographer based in Yangon. Previously a staff photographer at The Myanmar Times she now focuses on longform photo documentaries. Yu Yu co-runs Myanmar Deitta, a non-profit organisation that works to develop resources for local photographers and filmmakers. Yu Yu is also one of the founding members Myanmar women photographers collective “Thuma”.

Yu Yu has won several international scholarships and her work has been exhibited locally and internationally including at Obscura Festival of Photography, Penang, and Photoville, New York, and one of her works “Memory Lane” is featured in the book we will have been young by dienacht publishing.

Yu Yu was Magnum Foundation’s fellow for Photography and Social Justice Program 2017. She is working on her personal stories on memories and other human-right related issues. She is also interested in transforming her works into photobooks form as another layer of story telling.

Shwe Wutt Hmon divides her life between photography and work in development. Shwe is a freelance documentary photographer based in Yangon, Myanmar. Coming from a background with development worker for over a decade, Shwe also works as an independent researcher for UN agencies and international organization.

Shwe’s works focus on gender, personal and family relationships, documenting history of places and people, changes in environment and urbanization. She tells personal stories from which she connects and examines larger social and societal issues using photography as her main medium.

A founding member of Thuma Collective, which is dedicated to visual storytelling, Shwe was a part of Thuma Collective’s debut exhibition “Us & Beyond” in 2018 and second collective exhibition “Disclosure” in 2019. With Thuma Collective, Shwe has published two collective photo books, “Us & Beyond”, self-published by Thuma Collective and “Bridging the Naf”, funded by the Norwegian People’s Aid.

Shwe was a selected artist in the South Asia Incubator 1 in the Photo Kathmandu 2018. She was also a part of Women in Photography 2017 slideshow projection: Asian Women Photographer’s Showcase in Objectifs, Singapore. Shwe is currently a selected mentee in Women Photograph Mentorship Class for 2019-2020.

Header photo: Life in A Love (c) Shwe Wutt Hmon