Maung Day, A Tuk-Tuk Ride in Sittwe, 2022

In April 2022 – almost a year after a series of wars broke out between the Arakan Army and the Bamar Military in the area, Burmese artist Maung Day took a trip to Arakan Land. On this trip through Sittwe, Mrauk-U and other small Arakanese towns, he brought along a drawing book, into which he sketched out the sights of his journey. Upon returning home, he redrew many of these sketches.

Of this drawing, Maung Day writes:

"We rented a tuk-tuk to take us from Sittwe to a river, on the other side of which lies a village called Phyu Chaung. My wife’s Arakanese relatives live there. The tuk-tuk drove past a score of military barracks and bases which cover thousands of acres of land, showing the mighty presence of the Bamar Army in the area. The road is lined with not just trees, but with many camouflage-painted gates and fences. The greens and the browns of the war camouflage paint mingles with the greens and the browns of the trees in a blurry haze of my vision. I could see and sense how bitterly the local Arakanese detest the presence of those infrastructures. My wife’s uncle mumbled on about the imminent restart of the wars, reflecting the anxieties of the local Arakanese. The wars have halted temporarily, with the Bamar Army shifting their entire focus on crushing the revolutionary forces of the Spring Revolution. The ceasefire signals the rise of the Arakanese Army and instills hopes in the local Arakanese for a better future with more freedom and self-determination."