Freedom award for Aye Ko
Myanmar veteran turned to performance art after years as a political prisoner
After being nominated three times, Myanmar artist Aye Ko, 54, has won the 2017 Joseph Balestier Award for the Freedom of Art.
The award, inaugurated in 2015 by contemporary-art fair Art Stage Singapore and the United States Embassy in Singapore, annually honours a Southeast Asian artist or curator who “advocates freedom”.
This year’s fair took place from January 12 to 15.
Joseph Balestier was the first American diplomat posted to Singapore, in 1836.
Aye Ko, chosen for the award over his compatriot Chaw Ei Thein and Arahmaiani of Indonesia, wins a US$15,000 (Bt531,000) cash prize.
“I don’t feel this award is only for me,” he says. “I feel it represents all who fight for justice and freedom in our country. It’s an honour to me and my country that the international community has recognised the path I have gripped on to.
“I have always prayed for peace and freedom for our country and depicted peace and freedom in my work. I have decided to spend the award money on the development of rural children and artists.”
The jury included Professor Ute Meta Bauer of the Centre for Contemporary Art in Singapore, Zoe Butt of the Factory Contemporary Art Centre in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and Indonesian curator and writer Enin Supriyanto.
Having started his career as an impressionistic painter, Aye Ko turned to performance art after being jailed as a political prisoner from 1990 to 1993, finding it a more appropriate way to address the social and political turmoil in his homeland.
In 2008 he and partners opened the gallery New Zero Art Space in Yangon to help develop Myanmar’s art scene and support young talent.
The freedom message behind the award provoked some scepticism in the region when the awards were first announced, due to the Singapore government’s control over freedom of expression.
Previous winners have included Singaporean Lee Wen and Indonesia’s FX Harsono.
