Who's behind the news?
Who's behind the news?
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Newsjunkie.net is a resource guide for journalists. We show who's behind the news, and provide tools to help navigate the modern business of information.
Use of Data
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1.5.2
The Myanmar Photo Archive (MPA) is a physical archive of photographic materials from Myanmar, focused on images produced by local professional and amateur photographers. Founded in 2013 by Austrian photographer Lukas Birk, it is the first and only public photographic archive in Myanmar dedicated to locally-produced images. The MPA is registered as a non-profit organization in France (association loi de 1901) and operates from Yangon. As of 2023, the archive holds more than 30,000 images (with some sources citing over 40,000), spanning from approximately 1890 to the present decade.
In 2013, Lukas Birk began collecting photographic materials and researching the history of photography in Myanmar. Recognizing that Myanmar lacked publicly accessible visual archives—particularly for locally-produced images—Birk established the MPA as a means to document the visual culture and everyday lives of Burmese people across decades of restricted access. Initial collecting focused on secondhand dealers and family archives, yielding thousands of images, photo albums, and photographic objects on the first collecting trip alone. The archive focuses on the social significance of photography rather than political history, emphasizing Sino-Burmese professional studio photography, private albums, and the work of individual amateur photographers. The MPA's digital archive was developed with support from the European Union.
The collection includes studio portraiture, private photo albums, official photography, company records, scientific research photography, documentary images, studio accessories, photographic slides, and negatives. The earliest images date to approximately 1890. Notable sub-collections include the work of amateur photographer U Than Maung and materials from the Yangon studio photography era. The MPA has published a photobook programme including seven volumes, all designed and published in Myanmar and distributed internationally through Fraglich Publishing.
The MPA's holdings document visual journalism and documentary photography in Myanmar from the colonial era through the post-independence decades. The archive presented a major exhibition at the historic Secretariat Building in Yangon in 2018, titled "Burmese Photographers," presenting 300 images covering colonial-era photography through the 1970s, complemented by contemporary photojournalism.
The archive is accessible in person in Yangon. The digital archive is available online at myanmarphotoarchive.org. The MPA also runs regular public exhibitions in Myanmar. Workshops are offered, and photobooks are distributed both locally (through the Yangon Book Plaza) and internationally. For inquiries or to submit photographs, contact mpa@myanmarphotoarchive.org.