IRENE – a Burmese Icon

I met Irene in a crummy room on the second floor of a typical downtown Yangon building. I was looking through thousands of images that had been gathered and stored by Azim and his father over the decades. They had been antique dealers, and after they closed their shop in the early 2000s all the materials had been dumped in Azim’s small apartment.

I had noticed the same face appearing in many of the images I looked at. It was beautiful and proud, with an open gaze. That day I found ten small photo albums containing black and white prints of a woman and her life in the 1960s and 70s. The images were primarily from Mandalay and the surrounding area. There were not many indications of the woman’s identity except that she was called Irene. 

It was apparent that Irene came from a very fortunate back- ground, with a car and a luxurious house. She was fashionable and had no shyness about presenting her elegance and grace in front of the camera. I immediately thought that she should be revived as a wonderful social media persona. I created an Instagram account for her and started to post images with short captions in the first person. Very soon there were 1000 people following Irene and commenting on her style.  On another research visit to Myanmar, I talked to a Burmese friend who told me that she follows Irene and loves her very much. She embodies the 1970s in Myanmar; the way movies and popular culture were portrayed. I fell in love with Irene – or at least with the idea I created of her in my mind. To me, she is a star in her own movie.

Lukas Birk

Info on the book can be found here