AnOther Family (2019)

Another Family is a project I worked on with young nuns from war-torn ethnic areas in Myanmar, sheltered in a nunnery school in Thanlyin. Like many photographers,I went in with a pre-assumed idea—to focus on loss, to show how war had stolen their childhoods. But I didn’t speak their language, and I was already aware of their trauma. So, I decided to spend weeks with them, teaching photography, but it was they who taught me. I came to see not only loss but also resilience—the deep, beautiful bond they shared with one another.

Then, in 2021, the coup happened. I was displaced and unable to return home, just like them. I think of them from time to time. I keep in touch with some, but they are scattered again. Last year, I learned that one of the girls had died in Typhoon Yagi.

When I look at their photos, I find myself questioning my previous narrative of resilience.
Why are we glorifying resilience, and what is the emotional toll of endless endurance?

Perhaps I wouldn’t feel this way if I still saw this as just a project—if I were still the storyteller, still the outsider. But I can’t distance myself anymore.

I thought I understood it all. Well, we all did. But we never truly understand until we become part of it ourselves.

I am asking myself this question time to time.
How long before resilience becomes too much to bear? (Written in Jan 2025)