Htein Lin

Htein Lin (, ; born 31 December 1966) is a Burmese painter, performance artist, and writer.

Early life Htein Lin was born in Ingapu, Ayeyarwady Region in Burma.

Artistic career Instead of working in the legal profession, Htein Lin became an artist and also an actor in comic films (as "Htein Htein") in the mid 1990s. He led the way with modern Burmese performance art. His artistic performances included The Little Worm in the Ear, in Yangon, and Guitarist in 1996.

Htein Lin spent 6½ years as a political prisoner in Burma from 1998-2004. He continued to perform for fellow inmates in prison. Officially, he was not permitted to paint while imprisoned. However, he managed to produce several hundred paintings secretly, using white cotton prison uniforms, as well as about a thousand drawings. He bribed the prison guards to smuggle paint to him, but it was too dangerous to have a paintbrush in his cell. Instead, he used various objects that were available to him, including cigarette lighters, pieces of glass, plates, nets, razor blades, syringes, or simply his fingers and hands. He used a monoprint technique.

After his release from prison in 2004, he returned to art and performance. His May 2005 Rangoon street performance entitled Mobile Art Gallery/Mobile Market meant he was interrogated by the authorities again.

He was introduced in 2005 to the British Ambassador in Yangon, Vicky Bowman, who took receipt of his prison paintings and ensured their preservation by loaning them to the Burma Archives Project at the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam. He later married Bowman and they moved to live in London for seven years.

During his time in the UK, Htein Lin undertook performance art in Trafalgar Square, central London, on 1 June 2008.

He also had exhibitions and performed in Finland, France, Norway, Thailand, Czech Republic and the United States of America. In addition, he has performed at the 2007 Venice Biennale and at festivals in Finland, Japan, Malaysia, and the Philippines. His performances draw on his artistic life as well as aiming to raise awareness of the Burmese political situation.

Htein Lin has continued to use the monoprint technique in his subsequent paintings. These draw on his Theravada Buddhist faith, Burmese symbols and traditions, his early experience as a comedian in "anyeint" satirical performances, and events such as Cyclone Nargis and the Saffron Revolution.

In 2013, Htein Lin returned to live in Rangoon, and commenced his project A Show of Hands Project. In 2014 he returned one week in prison to train prisoners to Vipassana meditation and monoprint painting techniques In November 2015, Htein Lin campaigned in the delta area for the National League for Democracy of Aung San Suu Kyi and his native township Ingapu.

In the aftermath of the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, he was reportedly detained in Yangon on 24 August 2022, along with his wife Vicky Bowman, and charged with immigration offences. PEN America called for his immediate release. He was released in November 2022, as part of a mass pardon to mark National Day.

Exhibitions Htein Lin has exhibited at the following solo and group shows: Crossings (group show), Olson Gallery, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, United States, August–October 2008 00235, Carcere le Nuove, Turin, Italy, October 2008 (prison paintings)

Family He is married to the former British Ambassador to Myanmar, Vicky Bowman, and they have one daughter.

Legacy The US Embassy in Yangon has acquired two paintings by Htein Lin. Other works are held in private collections in Belgium, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam holds Htein Lin's papers.