Htein Lin: Finding Artistic Freedom as a Political Prisoner

Htein Lin is one of Burma’s leading artists. A student activist against the oppressive military junta, he spent four years hiding in the jungle before being imprisoned for his pro-democracy views. It was during his many years as a political prisoner that he found his voice as an artist. A painter, sculptor and performance artist, he uses his own life and experiences in his works, from prison uniforms as canvases to reclaiming and reworking rubbish thrown away on the streets of Yangon, even the plaster cast from when his arm was broken has become part of a sculpture. Htein Lin shows the BBC’s Dixi Stewart around his studio in Myanmar where ongoing art includes a sculpture made from the offcuts of signs to his famous continuing political project A Show of Hands.