Thyitar

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Thyitar (b. 1988, Yangon, Myanmar) is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans performance, installation, video, photography, and conceptual art. Drawing from her experience as a Muslim woman in Myanmar, her work explores the intersections of identity, gender, faith, and social belonging. Through personal narratives and embodied actions, she investigates how cultural and religious structures shape individual perception, agency, and visibility.

Thyitar studied contemporary art at New Zero Art Space, Yangon, in 2010, and later received a Diploma in Fine Arts from the National University of Arts and Culture, Yangon, in 2019. Alongside her artistic practice, she served as Executive Editor of Fashion and Hlaing Thit Art and Ideological Magazine from 2011 to 2019.

Since initiating her performance art practice in 2011, Thyitar has participated in numerous international festivals, workshops, and exchange programs across Asia and Europe. Her selected participations include the Asia–Nippon Performance Art Exchange (Myanmar), International Multimedia Art Festival (Myanmar), Malaysia–Myanmar Art Exchange, Watagata Art Festival (South Korea), NIPAFF International Performance Art Festival (Japan and Vietnam), Field of Vision Performance Art Festival (Germany and Thailand), SIPAF International Performance Art Festival (Philippines), and Real Now! International Performance Art Festival (Germany).

Thyitar has presented three solo exhibitions to date, beginning with Conversation (2020) at Medo Art Space, Vienna. Across her evolving practice, she has developed five major bodies of work: Dark is Light, Game, Hippy Birthday, Lives as Cacti, and From Thorns to Blossoms. These interconnected series examine questions of resilience, social expectations, personal freedom, spirituality, and transformation through a combination of performative, visual, and conceptual strategies.

In 2020, she was shortlisted as a finalist for the Sovereign Asian Art Prize. Her work has been exhibited internationally in galleries, festivals, and interdisciplinary art platforms.

Grounded in lived experience, Thyitar's practice considers art as a space for dialogue and critical reflection. Navigating themes of feminism, religious identity, and cultural difference, her works challenge inherited narratives while proposing new possibilities for empathy, understanding, and social openness.