HYODO Chinatsu’s striking photographs document the young woman's 10-year love affair with Myanmar.

Japanese national Chinatsu studied photography at the Osaka University of Arts before taking on a project in 1994 to photograph 10 Southeast Asian countries, one of them being Myanmar.

That is when she fell in love with the people, the landscape and the architecture.

“This country just attracted me so much,” she says.

So she returned in 1997, to study Myanmar at the Yangon University of Foreign Languages and then again in 2003 to learn traditional dance, marionette manipulation and Myanmar orchestra performance at the University of Culture.
“I wanted to take Myanmar’s traditional arts back to Japan,” she explains. “I collected records and texts, as well as learning to perform the traditional arts,” she says.

But deep down she is a photographer and she took photos everywhere she went.

“All my photos show beautiful scenes of Myanmar. I shot them with my heart. I took them all with great joy,” she says.

“This photo show will be my farewell to my teachers and friends in Myanmar, and will also mark the 10th anniversary of my stay in Myanmar,” she says with sadness at leaving the country she loves.

“But I will be back again,” she promises.

Children playing happily in Bagan, young monks smiling in front of a monastery and a beautiful twilight scene in her photographs reflect her affection for the country.

Hyodo Chinatsu’s photo exhibition, entitled ‘Days of Myanmar’ is on display at the AZADA Gallery until February 8.