Pwa K’Nyaw: Seeds of Resilience is a long-term project documenting the ongoing struggle for self-determination among the Karen indigenous people in Myanmar—a struggle that, despite being one of the world's most prolonged civil conflicts, remains largely underreported and unknown to the global public. In the country's southeast, where the forested hills and winding valleys of the Salween River basin descend to the Thailand border, lies the autonomous Karen territory of Kawthoolei. For millennia, local communities have inhabited this region of extraordinary biodiversity, developing their ways of life in harmony with the natural world. But fo many generations, they have also resisted continuous campaigns of repression and occupation by successive Burmese military governments while striving to safeguard their environments, traditional practices, and identities. Today, the escalation of warfare following a military coup d'état in 2021, critically endangers this vital socio-ecological landscape. Over 100,000 internally displaced persons have been sheltering in the region's lush forests after fleeing their homes due to relentless waves of airstrikes. When land is the basis of life, conflict and forced displacement strip people of their humanity. It disrupts the profound relationship of Karen communities to their ancestral territory, which sustains their culture and livelihoods and serves as a source of resilience in the face of adversity.
Pwa K'Nyaw: Seeds of Resilience
2019 - 2023
“We ask the spirits to protect our country and indigenous culture,” says Saw Shan Nay Moo. “We pray for the heart of the Myanmar military to change.”
"The mother advised us to save the seed of the taro,
The father advised us to save the seed of the yam.
If we save up to thirty kinds of seeds,
our lives will be sustained in times of crisis."
- Traditional Karen poem
Media/Press
The Guardian
'Myanmar junta ‘bombing schools’, with 170 sites hit in past three years – report'
Zeke Magazine
The Guardian
'Amid Myanmar's longest war, a people struggle to surive in the forest'
Kranj Foto Fest - Upcoming Screening
'Pwa K'Nyaw: Seeds of Resilience'
Rencontres de la Photographie de Marrakech - Exhibition
'Pwa K'Nyaw: Seeds of Resilience'
National Geographic - Exhibition
Yangon Photo Festival - Exhibition
Al Jazeera
'Karen minority urges 'respect' in Myanmar peace park initiative'