Geometric Echos

Curatorial Statement

Can a single color or a single shape really be enough to express a person’s identity? I used to wonder about this myself.

It has been two years now since the Geometric Echos project wrapped up. Looking back at the colors and shapes of all 16 participants for the second time after two years, I finally found the answer. Why did Naing Lin Thuu’s shape turn out to be an airplane? Why did Ko Pedro choose a yellow circle? And why did I choose my very own shape back then? Just by looking at a shape or a color, the personal reasons and narratives behind each individual come vividly back to life.

There are 16 participants in this project. But if we were to ask everyone to choose a color, a shape, and tell their story, how remarkably unique would each individual’s existence be, despite its simplicity? This exhibition is designed not only for you to witness that experiment firsthand but also as a space where you can test it out for yourself.

Furthermore, it is only with the help of photography that we were able to carefully document these expressions. At the same time, the participants of Geometric Echos have clearly shown themselves to be artists directing their own lives. Everyone ought to be an artist who can freely and independently shape and color their own life.

— Jae Jae

A Message from Project Lead

Geometric Echos is a photography project back in 2024 led by Media Club at Parami University and participated in by Parami students. To reflect on, it was a 3Es project that was to express, to engage, and to experiment. Through our most personal shapes and colors, we expressed ourselves through acrylic masks as we engaged in photography sessions, taking over the downtown streets of Yangon and taking breathtakingly experimental photographs.

To state, we were not professionals and for most of us, this was the first time doing it. It was very refreshing to do so. Through this exhibition, I would like you to see the process before the product. Our process of expression, engagement, and experimentation has paid off simply because we felt refreshed, excited, and heartfelt. Other than that, everyone came together as a team and built bonds and friendships as a communal and heartwarming experience.

First, I hope you notice our experimentation, testing weird ideas and bringing those to life. Instead of using the grant in traditional programs like educational workshops, panel discussions, or guest speaker sessions, we put it all into this. Being the only one is kind of a liberating feeling. Sometimes we need to feel like we are not following anybody or avoiding being compared to others. The independence and the unknown aspects of the project brought freshness and excitement among us and to the university community.

Second, I believe art is what makes us human. We cannot stop at appreciating and enjoying art; I feel the need to engage with it. So we learn how to express ourselves through art, and for a moment, we become one with our labor, our thoughts, and our heart. We become artists. As humans, our emotional capacity can build up to its limits, and we need to release those in some way. Art offers us that.

With these thoughts, we present Geometric Echos exhibition. It is the ultimate product of our two-year journey. Through our photographs and our zine pages, I hope you can feel our expressions, our experiments, our enthusiasm, and the process that brought us to this point. Thank you for coming.

— Wai Moe