The Monument 2009
I love newspapers and the information they communicate, I want to honor the process of sharing the truth by creating an art, and I want to honor the the reporters who died while they were trying to get good news and who are in prison for their works.
Artist Statement
I have tried to create an installation by using old newspapers. First, I collected old and various newspapers and made dice forms. I needed to put air into the pieces of the newspapers to get the dice-formed newspaper balloon. After installing many newspaper dice, I will create a monument made of newspaper. I felt that I could reduce my terrible feelings about what is going on in the world, while I created dice pieces of newspaper. After creating many dice paper balloons, I have created a monument, my feeling is getting happiness. As I love newspapers and the information they communicate, I want to honor the process of sharing the truth by creating artwork with various, colorful, useful old newspapers for the great section of the newspaper and I want to honor the reporters who died while they were trying to get good news and who are in prison for their works.
Than Htay Maung was born in 1958 in Pathien, Burma. He lives in Pittsburgh with his wife Khet Mar, City of Asylum/Pittsburgh’s writer-in-residence. His installation work, created out of found materials, is politically charged commentary on news and its veracity and dissemination to the public. Whether making an installation about satellite news distribution in Burma or sending SOS bottles filled with commentary down the Irrawaddy River, Than Htay Maung’s work always asks the viewer to question what he or she believes to be the truth