Archives in Focus

Date: November 15th to December 22nd, 2025

“Archives in Focus” showcased compelling narratives from Myanmar and beyond, offering profound insights into how lives have been documented and portrayed by both professional and amateur photographers in the 19th and 20th centuries. The program featured a diverse array of stories, from colonial-era photographs to contemporary explorations of identity, culture, and displacement. In a time marked by increasing global and local divisions regarding societal governance and structure, the event invited visitors to rethink and reinterpret the past and present. Through a series of exhibitions, workshops, and talks, attendees had the opportunity to engage with artists, curators, and collectives as they offered a fresh perspectives on history and personal experiences. ‘Archives in Focus’ marked the culmination of a two-year collaboration between Myanmar Photo Archive and Goethe-Institut Myanmar, focused on the diverse, community driven and participatory reinterpretation of the archive’s visual materials. This collaborative effort concluded in a three-week international program / series of events, showcasing the results of the past two years of their joint work.