Athens local portrays Southeast Asian travels through pictures
By Max Bonem, Staff Writer
June 4, 2008 | noon
Lachman’s show, "Burmese Days," which is the first of many that he is currently working on, is on display at Donkey Coffee until Aug. 2. "Burmese Days" takes the viewer on a journey into Myanmar culture through different images of people, architecture and the beautiful scenery of this oppressed country, ultimately leaving all who see the work with a sense of wonder and awe.
“People have no idea of [Myanmar] or where it is or anything about its people,” said Lachman, an independent software developer born and raised in Athens County. “Some exposure to the place and showing people that it exists is what I hope to accomplish.”
According to Donkey Coffee’s Web site, Lachman, along with his wife Catherine, traveled to Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, in 2005 to spend time doing volunteer work with the Myanmar Compassion Project, an operative that supports orphanages around the former capital of Yangon. While they were there, Lachman decided to document his travels through the country, which is one of the poorest in the world, in order to educate people about Myanmar once he returned.
“The village that I visited only had electricity from 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m., so people would go to bed at sundown and then wake up again in the middle of the night to use the electricity,” he said. “That fact, along with there being no highway in the entire country, really opened my eyes to what a different place I was in.”
One aspect that strongly impacted Lachman’s experience was the government presence in Myanmar, which he said was very evident throughout the country. According to "Burmese Days," the classic novel by radical British writer George Orwell from which Lachman's exhibit takes its name, this is a continuing legacy of the Myanmar government.
“Orwell lived and worked in Burma and then later wrote 1984, which is all about a society in the future and how you never know who is informing on you,” Lachman said. “Well, in Myanmar, his prediction came true and their government has made a point of destabilizing the society and making it a state of fear.”
Although the display space is more coffee shop than art gallery, the collection of photographs has achieved what Lachman was hoping. “It’s Burma, and no one ever talks about Burma, so I think this is great,” said Emilee Brightman, an Ohio University freshman and exhibit observer.
The locals who appear in the photographs range in age and in candidness, but all subjects seem to display a common characteristic of happiness. The strength and positive nature portrayed throughout the exhibit show how people who are so oppressed can still find joy in life and hope for a better future.
“There were no real problems with photographing people, especially because they knew I was American, and Myanmar is one of the few places where our country is held highly,” Lachman said. “We have a middle class and freedom of speech and press, both of those are things that they deeply desire.”
The timing of Lachman’s show coincides with the cyclone that hit Myanmar at the beginning of May—a fact that he responded to by explaining how he had scheduled the show months ago. However, there would be no better time than now for the show to help raise awareness of the decimated country.
All of the prints featured in the show are for sale, with 20 percent going to Partners Relief and Development, a group that Lachman and his wife volunteered with while in Thailand. According to Donkey's Web site, this group helps to aid the victims in Myanmar and is sending native relief workers into the Irrawaddy delta region of the country.
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