It’s almost as if you can’t have beauty without destruction, or riches without exploitation. The story of Myanmar, told here at the British Museum, is one of abundance and plenty being met with dominance and greed over and over again.
Squeezed in between China, Thailand, Laos, India, Bangladesh and a vast ocean, Myanmar is a nation of riches. It has oil, rare earth elements, teak, rice, silver and ports for trade. And before British colonial rule it wasn’t a nation but a loose collection of states, kingdoms and kinships that grew and shrank as they fought and expanded. In intricate manuscripts and wall hangings, you learn about how groups in central Myanmar attacked east into Thailand and west into India capturing whole populations as spoils of war. A silk cloth here is made by captured Manipuris, the gold Qu’ran box belonged to seized muslims. A illustrated text shows King Mindon bringing in people from neighbouring regions but all dressed in Burmese clothing, whole populations co-opted and integrated into Burmese society, their skills and labour as valuable as any resource.
Sliks, textiles and gems were traded across the region. States and borders were fluid, Burmese society was a multifaceted thing. And then the British took over, bringing with them an all-encompassing form of violent administrative bureaucracy that would obliterate countless existing social structures and unite all these states into one nation. A huge gold Buddha here was looted by a British naval office in the first Anglo-Burmese War, a manuscript shows King Thibaw being exiled to India.
The British took over, bringing with them an all-encompassing form of violent administrative bureaucracy
But people adapt, and soon hybrid British-Burmese arts were being created: a necklace made with George V coins, a silver centrepiece that’s half-Buddhist imagery, half-European patterning.
But what a mess the British left behind. After independence in 1948, an un-unified country ravaged by World War II descended into civil war. A military coup in 1962 cut Myanmar off from the rest of the world, and imposed a brutal dictatorship. Miltary rule lasted unil 2011, and returned in 2021.
The show isn’t especially atmospheric or in-depth, which is a shame. But the main issue is how current treatment of the Rohingya people is barely mentioned, and when you see how few objects are included from after independence you realise that this history of Myanmar is too broad, too light touch.
The story here is that with great turbulence Burma became Myanmar, but its next chapter is still being written. You leave this show hoping it’s one with a much happier ending.
