Nge Nom

Nge Nom launched a Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) network in Myanmar by fundraising for striking civil workers just three days after the military coup on February 1, 2021, which escalated into a full-scale civil war. The military’s brutal crackdown led to thousands of deaths, mass displacement, and warnings of famine. Nominated for the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, the CDM is hailed as a non-violent resistance movement capable of inspiring other pro-democracy initiatives amid rising authoritarianism, uniting generations and ethnic groups across Myanmar. To protect her family, Nge Nom’s identity remains concealed.

In April 2021, Nge Nom joined a protest near her safe house in Myanmar. While sharing a pomelo fruit with fellow demonstrators, she saw military vehicles speeding toward the group. Panic set in. After a desperate run, they eventually sought refuge in the home of an elderly couple who directed them to a backyard ditch where they could hide. As soldiers threatened to burn the house down, Nge Nom crawled into a smaller ditch, but her friends were paralyzed. They were later assaulted and arrested. Escaping through a chute in a wooden fence, she was invited by another elderly woman to hide in her home until the evening.

This installation—comprising mud, water, plants, and a wooden fence—becomes a poignant symbol not only of survival and traumatic loss but also of the intelligence and courageous resistance of Myanmar’s younger generation against military control. The more apolitical older generation is often called “Generation Lee” [Generation penis] by Gen Z. Yet, in this work, the artist honors intergenerational connections and the protection elders provided to strangers from the younger generation beneath their veneer of neutrality.

Text: Somrak Sila