Soe Yu Nwe (Lashio, Myanmar, 1989)
Soe Yu Nwe draws inspiration from Burmese folklore, vernacular arts, and Buddhist and animistic practices. Her sculptures often feature fragmented female bodies transformed into visceral, semi-botanical forms. Reflecting her own mixed Chinese-Myanmar heritage, Nwe’s practice embraces hybridity to explore the multiplicity and fluidity of identity.
One of her recurring mythical motifs is the “Goddess of the Serpent”, a metaphor for the self, rebirth, and femininity – a symbolic challenge to the conservative gender roles traditionally upheld in Myanmar’s Buddhist doctrine. Another significant motif in this exhibition is the head of Guanyin (Goddess of Mercy). Inspired by her encounter with the Kannon (Guanyin) statues at Sanjūsangen-dō in Kyoto where the deity appears as male, unlike the typically female depictions in Myanmar, Nwe began exploring gender identity through this mythological figure, expanding the motif into a new body of work.
In her “Inspiration from Shan State” series, she explored her family’s migration history from Yunnan to Myanmar. In her acquired work at the British Museum’s Burma to Myanmar exhibition, Soe narrated her identity and emotional conflict through the Burmese Python symbol. Soe’s work has been exhibited internationally including institutions such as Leeum Museum of Art (Korea), Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (Australia), Simose Art Museum (Japan), The New Taipei City Yingge Ceramic Museum (Taiwan), National Gallery of Indonesia, Jakarta (Indonesia) and ArtScience Museum (Singapore). Soe was named in 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30: Art & Style. Soe has been awarded the inaugural 2023 Advocacy for the Arts Fellowship from The Rockefeller Foundation and CARE USA.
Currently lives and woks in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai in Thailand.
