Lukas Birk, K I and the Myanmar Photo Archive Team, LOST … ဆုံးပါးခြင်း, 2025

In the heart of every photograph lays a memory, and in every memory, a whisper of resistance. Lost is a quiet uprising, a testament rendered in shadows and light, grief and grace. Produced, printed, and distributed in Myanmar, Lost is a subtle but profound act of defiance in a country where speaking openly against the military regime remains a dangerous impossibility.
Following the military coup of February 2021, Myanmar plunged into loud protest, violent suppression and silencing. Protest was stifled, voices were crushed, and a fearful quiet blanketed the country. In the face of such systemic violence and repression, open dissent became a perilous proposition. It is in this context that Lost emerges – a publication that dares to speak in symbols, to mourn through metaphor, and to carry the torch of remembrance through carefully curated archival material.

At its core, Lost is a book about death, but not only in the literal sense. It is about the loss of democracy, the erosion of freedom, and the heartbreak of a country made to mourn once again. Yet it is also a book about the persistence of culture, the endurance of faith, and the power of collective memory. Through funeral photography drawn from the Myanmar Photo Archive – a vast repository of vernacular images spanning generations, Lost meditates on the rituals of grief and the many forms of farewell practised across Myanmar’s diverse communities.
These photographs, quiet and arresting, belong to a visual language deeply rooted in Myanmar’s cultural life. They depict funerals not as isolated events, but as vital communal expressions. The scenes are deeply intimate, yet universally resonant: families gathered around a body, wreaths and candles arranged with care, the stillness of a final embrace. They come from Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, and animist contexts, reflecting the pluralism that defines Myanmar’s historical fabric.