The exhibition “Rethink Beato: from Italy to Burma (1832-1909)”, organised by the Embassy of Italy in collaboration with the Myanmar Photo Archive, was inaugurated in Yangon on Saturday 30 November. Through his works, the exhibition retraces the footsteps of Felice Beato, the Italian-born photographer who immortalised the spirit of Myanmar during his stay in Mandalay from 1887 to 1905. The powerful images captured by his lens in Burma and other countries allow visitors to travel back in time to discover his intriguing life and legacy.
An adventurer, eternal wanderer, explorer and brilliant entrepreneur, Beato was one of the most talented pioneers of the nascent art of photography, with a gift for anticipating the infinite possibilities opened up by the globalisation of the 19th century. Travelling between the Near and Far East, Beato documented historic events such as the Crimean War of 1855, the Indian Mutiny of 1857, the Second Opium War in China, the US Naval Expedition to Korea in 1871 and the British colonisation of Burma, anticipating photography’s destiny as the most powerful tool for both witnessing the truth and building propaganda in times of war. With his intuition to create complete photographic albums of Japanese and then Burmese “views and types” to be mailed around the world, he not only fuelled the desire for exoticism in the West, but also the symmetrical desire of the Japanese and Burmese wealthy classes to be immortalised through the innovative Western tool of photography.
The “Rethink Beato” exhibition aims to provide the public with food for thought about this complex and sometimes enigmatic figure, and to illustrate his role in shaping an image of Burma that, although it could be considered stereotyped today, is still part of the collective imagination and memory of Myanmar. The beauty of his portraits, after more than a century, reveals a love and admiration for the country and the people that Beato came to know in the latter part of his long and extraordinary career.
“By presenting Beato’s photographic corpus in Myanmar,” explained Nicolò Tassoni Estense, Head of Mission at the Italian Embassy in Yangon, “we intend to contribute to the overall effort of the Myanmar Photo Archive and various other private institutions and citizens to preserve, promote and transmit Memory. This is an effort that is all the more important, as the country’s fragmented and tormented history has made it difficult for the Burmese people to regain a sense of ownership of their past. Being able to integrate the different stages of history with a critical eye is, in Myanmar as elsewhere, a way of consolidating a more grounded, conscious and rich identity”.
“This exhibition – continued Tassoni – is the first step in the Embassy’s efforts to collect the stories of Italians in Burma over the centuries, with the aim of testifying and documenting events that are often little known, but particularly important for cultural exchanges between Myanmar, Italy and Europe. This project is part of the wider programme of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to narrate and promote the most significant Italian figures abroad”.
“Rethink Beato” will be open to the public at Turquoise Mountain (47B Pho Sein Street, Bahan Township, Yangon) from Saturday 30 November 2024 to Sunday 15 December 2024, from 11:00 to 18:00. The exhibition catalogue will be distributed in Myanmar and Europe soon.
