{"id":249554,"date":"2026-01-24T12:40:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T12:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/249554\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T12:40:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T12:40:07","slug":"displaying-the-cloth-like-this-showed-its-true-beauty-aung-chan-thars-best-phone-picture-photography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/249554\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Displaying the cloth like this showed its true beauty\u2019: Aung Chan Thar\u2019s best phone picture | Photography"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Aung Chan Thar was 25, he was selected to represent Myanmar as\u00a0part of Asean Centre\u00a0for Biodiversity\u2019s (ACB) Young Asean Storytellers<\/a> programme. A cohort of 20 young artists and writers visited Asean Heritage Parks<\/a> in their own countries to tell stories of biodiversity, nature and culture.<\/p>\n

Aung first travelled to\u00a0Inlay Lake Wildlife Sanctuary<\/a>, known for its floating gardens, in 2022. \u201cThe Intha people live around the lake and build floating houses: structures made from bamboo on stilts,\u201d Aung says. \u201cFishing is a common occupation; they use their feet to paddle their boats. So\u00a0is\u00a0the production of colourful cloth.\u201d<\/p>\n

The following year, ACB funded Aung to create the Conservation Photography<\/a> Workshop for Myanmar Youth. He has now travelled to Inlay Lake 10 times; it\u00a0takes about a day on a bus from his home town of Hpa-an. He took this image there in 2023 using his mobile phone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI staged it to focus on the importance of this traditional cultural occupation. I wanted to show that Myanmar people strive to be productive even in the most difficult times. Displaying the cloth like this, on the water, showed its true beauty and vibrancy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI will continue to nurture young photography enthusiasts,\u201d he adds. \u201cDevelopment is weak here for various reasons, but I am always proud to be a citizen of this country.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Aung Chan Thar was 25, he was selected to represent Myanmar as\u00a0part of Asean Centre\u00a0for Biodiversity\u2019s (ACB)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249555,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-249554","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}