Burmese Dreaming Galleries

Images from the documentary Burmese Dreaming.

15 Photos

IMAGES FROM THE REFUGEE CAMPS OF THE THAILAND BURMA BORDER Hidden away in the mountains of the Thailand-Burma border are 9 refugee camps. These camps are home to some 150,000 Burmese refugees that have fled the humanitarian abuses perpetrated by the Burmese military regime. The camps are not, however, like the tent cities of Africa and the Middle East. Instead, they have been established for more than 25 years and the refugees enjoy security and an infrastructure – including health and education systems – which are better developed than those in their own villages and towns. But at the same time the refugees are not free to leave the camps, have little opportunity for meaningful employment, and there is a whole generation of refugees who have never known anything but life in the camps. Boredom results in social issues including depression, domestic violence, and drug abuse. Since 2004 there has been a mass program of resettling refugees from the camps to third countries including America, Canada, Australia and Norway. Tens of thousands of refugees have been resettled yet camp populations have not substantially decreased: while legitimate refugees still flee the abuses of the Burmese military so too is becoming a ‘refugee’ perceived as a passport to the developed world. The current price to become a refugee is about USD$3,000. These factors present a range of problems many of which are unique to the Thailand-Burma border. And sadly, after 25 years, there is still no sign of any imminent resolution to the problems in Burma. Indeed, with bogus elections looming large, most organizations based on the Thailand-Burma border are anticipating further waves of refugees.

22 Photos

'Welcome to Burma and Enjoy the Totalitarian Experience': Photography from Burma: the results of my first journey to Burma in 1997 were a book, Welcome to Burma and Enjoy the Totalitarian Experience (Orchid Press 2001), photography which came to be exhibited both in Australia and internationally and a resolve to return to the country to film something of the lives of the people of Burma. Although it has taken many years to come to fruition, Burmese Dreaming is the result of this resolve.

21 Photos