Sitt Nyein Aye | |
|---|---|
| စစ်ငြိမ်းအေး | |
| Born | Sein Aye (1956-04-24)24 April 1956 |
| Died | 1 September 2023(2023-09-01) (aged 67) Colorado, U.S. |
| Nationality | Burmese |
| Education | Mandalay Fine Arts School |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | Burmese contemporary art |
Sitt Nyein Aye (Burmese:စစ်ငြိမ်းအေး,IPA:[sɪʔɲéiɰ̃ʔé]; 24 April 1956 – 1 September 2023) was a Burmese artist.
Sitt Nyein Aye came from a small village, nearNyaung-U Township inUpper Myanmar.[1] He was bornSein Aye (စိန်အေး) toDawThan Swe andUTun Pe. His parents were farmers with no money for education. Monks in the village monastery provided the resources needed for him to attend high school. He secretly studiedmodern art but this was frowned upon by his teachers, being dubbed "mad art". He failed to achieve the top prize that would have allowed him to study abroad. Instead, he lived on the streets and sold artworks to passers-by.
Sitt Nyein Aye spent two months in custody for sketching the ruins of astudent union that had been blown up byNe Win in 1962.[2] As a supporter of the pro-democracy movement in Burma, he had lived in exile in India.[3]
Originally called Sein Aye, he changed his name to Sitt Nyein Aye, which meansWar and Peace, after reading the novel byLeo Tolstoy, in his twenties.[3]
Htein Lin, the Burmese painter and performance artist, studied under Sitt Nyein Aye.[4]
Earlier report said that Aye died on September 1, 2023.[5]
