Abstract

The Centre for Global Movement is honoured to host a talk by Dr Alexandra Green of the British Museum on her upcoming exhibition ‘From Burma to Myanmar’.

From influential superpower to repressive regime, Myanmar – also known as Burma – has seen dramatic fluctuations in fortune over the past 1,500 years. Experiencing decades of civil war and now ruled again by a military dictatorship, Myanmar is an isolated figure on the world stage today, and its story is relatively little known in the West. However, the extraordinary artistic output of its peoples, over more than a millennium of cultural and political change, attests to its pivotal role at the crossroads of Asia.

Interconnected yet cut-off, rich in natural resources such as jade, rubies and teak but with much of the country living below the poverty line, Myanmar is a country that defies categorisation. This unprecedented exhibition offers the chance to see the history behind the headlines.

Dr Alexandra Green is the Henry Ginsburg Curator for Southeast Asia in the Department of Asia at the British Museum. She has written and edited numerous books and articles on Southeast Asia’s arts and material cultures, including Southeast Asia: A history in objects, published in April 2023.