The Ragghianti Foundation, with the support of the Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca Foundation and the partnership of the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence, presents: "Burma. The art of Sawangwongse Yawnghwe between Burma and Europe", an exhibition dedicated to the works of the Burmese artist Sawangwongse Yawnghwe (Sawang). The exhibition, inaugurated on Friday, September 20, will be open to the public until November 3, 2024.

The exhibition, curated by Max Seidel and Serena Calamai, consists of a selection of over sixty works by the artist, some of them large-scale, many of which focus on the harsh and endless conflict between tyranny and democracy that has affected Burma for over half a century. Instead of simply recounting the tragedies that characterize the recent history of the country, Sawang represents the disasters of war through symbolic images, often drawing inspiration from Francisco Goya.

The artist's own biography, born in the rebel-controlled area in the Shan State of Burma, intertwines with the dramas depicted in his works. His grandfather was the first president of Burma after the end of English colonialism, and was killed in a military coup. Following the assassination, his father and grandmother founded a resistance movement. Sawang has spent his entire life in political exile, from Thailand, to Canada, to the Netherlands, where he currently resides.

Sawang's art, active on the international scene with exhibitions in Taiwan, Germany, the United States, Israel, and the Netherlands, thus becomes a witness to the suffering of oppressed peoples, and this exhibition gathers some examples of extraordinary power, in which the author manages to shape the deep historical essence of the Burmese drama in figurative language: on one side the peaceful battle of Buddhist monks, who protest against the dictatorship only by raising their hands in prayer, and on the other side the violence of the military junta.

In addition to the artist's works inspired by the political history of his country of origin, the exhibition dedicates space to a series of works in which Sawang reflects on important themes of modern European painting, engaging with the cultural tradition of our continent from a spatially distant but intensely felt perspective, adding depth to his work. Part of the exhibition indeed hosts a selection of works inspired by "The Unknown Masterpiece" by Honoré de Balzac, which, by recounting the impossible search for the absolute masterpiece, analyzes the relationship between representation and reality. Finally, the exhibition includes some works that reflect the great conflict between art and life, as described by Émile Zola in "The Masterpiece" in 1886.

As stated by Max Seidel, co-curator of the exhibition along with Serena Calamai, his encounter with Sawang "took place in Tuscany shortly after the Saffron Revolution of 2007, and following those discussions the artist created a series of drawings related to the repression of Buddhist monks by the brutal armed force of the soldiers of the military junta. In his early graphic works, Sawang chose to represent the war in Burma through symbolic images, avoiding a mere chronicle-like depiction of events".