As diplomatic pressure mounts over the handling of the Myanmar crisis since the 2021 military coup at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a photo exhibition and public advocacy campaign: The Coup Years: A Visual Chronicle of Resistance in Myanmar is taking place in Jakarta, Indonesia, until Oct. 11.
The exhibition is timed directly to engage the diplomatic community at the ASEAN Secretariat, located in Jakarta, highlighting nearly six years of popular resistance to the military coup in Myanmar.
Co-organized by SEA Junction, Asia Justice and Rights (AJAR), Humanis, Migrant Care, and Dia.lo.gue, the showcase brings together photographs captured between February 2021 and August 2026 by an expanded collective of over 20 Myanmar visual artists, strike committees, and frontline media initiatives—including Visual Rebellion, Yangon Revolution Force, and the Chindwin Riverside Village Strike Committee.
The exhibit is curated by independent artists Yit, Ji Ji, and Rosalia Sciortino from SEA Junction, and includes visual documentation of the anti-coup resistance led by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), as well as the severe humanitarian toll of military violence against those opposing the coup.
- Human Cost of Repression: Citing data from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), the exhibition documents that as of July, regime forces have killed 8,153 civilians, with over 5,100 additional cases under verification. A total of 31,418 people have been arrested, 22,391 remain in detention, and 173 have been sentenced to death. Among the victims, 639 children have been imprisoned and 1,086 killed.
- Broader Conflict Toll & Mass Displacement: Citing data from the Armed Conflict and Location Event Data (ACLED), the exhibition frames the overall death toll from the civil war at over 100,000 people, while United Nations figures confirm that internal and cross-border displacement has surpassed 4 million people due to ongoing conflict.
- Challenge to ASEAN & Military Legitimacy: The initiative explicitly targets ASEAN’s stalled Five-Point Consensus and growing debate surrounding the potential re-engagement of regime leader Min Aung Hlaing. Organizers reject recent military-conducted elections as a sham designed to entrench authoritarian rule, dismissing symbolic actions—such as sentence commutations for State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint—as attempts to conceal ongoing atrocities.
The exhibition is accompanied by a series of high-level panel discussions and film screenings examining regional security, human rights accountability, and transnational solidarity:
- Sept 26 (Opening Discussion): Myanmar and ASEAN featuring Mercy Chriesty Barends (ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights), Anita Wahid (AICHR), and Debbie Stothard (ALTSEAN-Burma).
- Sept 30 (Film Screening): Myanmar Diaries with Galuh Wandita (AJAR), documentary filmmaker Kelana Wisnu, and Nany Afrida (AJI Indonesia).
- Oct 4 (Film Screening): Border Hell: Inside Asia’s Cyber-Slavery Factories (Neraka Perbatasan) addressing cyber scam centers, human trafficking, and border insecurity with Fajar Nugroho (deduktif.id), Safina Maulida, and Wahyu Susilo (Migrant Care).
- Oct 7 (Film Screening): Thabyay: Creative Resistance in Myanmar featuring director Jeanne Hallacy, Tazia T. Darryanto (Humanis), and musician Ananda Badudu.
- Oct 10 (Book Launch): Public launch of Aung San Suu Kyi and Living the Coup with authors Mon Mon Myat and Rosalia Sciortino alongside Mohammad Hasan Ansori (The Habibie Center).
- Oct 11 (Closing Event): Screening of A Long Way Panglong with producer Mon Mon Myat, Marzuki Darusman (Special Advisory Council for Myanmar), Asfinawati (STH Indonesia Jentera), and Indria Fernida (AJAR).
For more information, contact SEA Junction on Facebook or reach them in Bangkok +66 97 002 4140
