The Liberty Project is a photographic artwork by Anne Bayin
inspired by the words of Nobel laureate and Burma democracy heroine Aung San Suu Kyi: “Please Use Your Liberty To Promote Ours”.

The photographs were taken during the three year period following the Saffron Revolution in 2007, and up until Aung San Suu Kyi’s release from military house arrest in November, 2010.

Using the device of a paper face mask of then-imprisoned Aung San Suu Kyi, Bayin explores the boundary between freedom and tyranny. She journeys to Toronto, New York, Istanbul, Geneva, Prague, Oxford and Havana depicting people in daily situations, and challenges us to see the world through Aung San Suu Kyi’s symbolic eyes.

The images remind us of the importance of human rights and the ongoing struggle for democracy in Burma and beyond. Photographs that appear whimsical on the surface are narratives that invite us to deeper levels of interpretation.

The Liberty Project is endorsed by Amnesty International, Canada and Nobel laureates the late Vaclav Havel and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The work has been exhibited in Toronto and Bangkok and featured in The Guardian Weekend and Time Magazine.

Anne Bayin is a Canadian fine art photographer and writer. She is granddaughter of the late Dr. U Ba Yin, a Burmese politician and a founder of the independence movement in Burma.