NUDE (2)

Title : Nude (2)

Size: 106 x 160 cm

Medium: acrylic on canvas

Year: 2008

The Semigwa Dance is a traditional Burmese dance in which a dancer performs intricate movements while holding candles or other materials in the palms of their hands. this dance has been perverted to become a form of torture. One man explains:

"At this time, prisoners were punished through a method called the Semigwa dance. During this torture, prisoners are made to crawl on gravel on their knees and elbows with their feet and hands up in the air, holding onto handfuls of gravel, while singing. If they do not sing smoothly or can not crawl, the authorities whip them with Bamboo batons. All the other prisoners are forced to watch this.

Torture report (Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma))