Episode Summary:The current episode is co-hosted with Simon Butler, an artist, curator and founder of MigrateArt, an art charity that helps those impacted by the biggest humanitarian crisis of our time. In the current episode we meet a Myanmar-born graffiti artist Bart Was Not Here, who creates a body of work full of escapism and dry humour by mixing text and imagery from Burmese and global pop culture. In this candid conversation we talk about Bart’s artistic journey from discovering graffiti, to experiencing anti-muslim hatred, and being forced to leave the country, as Bart shares with us his thoughts on the harsh reality of Myanmar and the misrepresentation of Burmese culture globally.The Speaker:Bart Was Not Here, born on 19.2.1996 in Yangon, Burma, is a visual artist working with paintings, illustrations, murals, and sculptures based in Paris. He started painting graffiti on the streets of Yangon under the alias “Bart Was Not Here” when he was in 8th grade and he graduated high school in 2011-2012. He committed to painting graffiti and street art with his crew R.O.A.R after high school and went to Lasalle College of the Arts in Singapore in 2014. He got a Fine Arts Diploma from Lasalle in 2018. As a graffiti artist he participated in a great number of group exhibitions in Burma as well as overseas. He debuted his solo exhibition titled God Complex at Myanm/art gallery in 2019. He has showcased his paintings in Saatchi Gallery as well as The Secretariat Building in Myanmar. His artworks are usually figurative with vibrant colored patterns and humorous text serving as punchlines. He is interested in world-building and storytelling within his art as he is inspired by the likes of Hieronymous Bosch, David Lynch, Neil Gaiman, and Jean “Moebius” Giraud. Kyaw Moe Khine is open to working with different concepts in his art but he loves working in the areas of myth, religion, icons, pop culture, and satire. He also believes humour can be used as a weapon in art. He’s in the middle of his art residency at Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris.The Co-Host:Simon Butleris a curator, social entrepreneur and artist based in London. He founded Migrate Artin 2016 after visiting the Calais Jungle refugee camp in France for the first time. This poignant experience inspired him to use his years of experience in the art world to help those impacted by the biggest humanitarian crisis of our time. To date, Migrate Art has raised over £550,000, helped thousands of people across Europe and the Middle East and worked with some of the world's leading artists including Anish Kapoor, Mona Hatoum, Antony Gormley, Rachel Whiteread and Raqib Shaw.Host: Farah Piriye, ZEITGEIST19 FoundationSign up for ZEITGEIST19's newsletter at https://www.zeitgeist19.comFor sponsorship enquiries, comments, ideas and collaborations, email us at [email protected] us on Instagramand TwitterHelp us to continue our mission and to develop our podcast: Donate