Htein Lin was born in Mezaligon, Burma (now Myanmar) in 1966 and became politically active during the 1988 uprising, spending years in refugee camps before returning to Yangon and later being imprisoned for dissent. While incarcerated, he developed a distinctive artistic practice using improvised materials. After his release, he lived in England with his British wife before returning to Myanmar in 2013; following the 2021 coup, he was arrested again and remains barred from leaving the country.
Artist Htein Lin was born in 1966 into a relatively comfortable family who owned a small sawmill in Mezaligon, Burma (today Myanmar). From an early age, he enjoyed storytelling and showed a strong talent for drawing. However, Burma offered limited opportunities for formal art education, with courses available only through state-run institutions. Lin’s academic achievements placed him in an awkward position - his grades were considered too high to qualify for art studies but too low for medicine - so he was directed to study law at Rangoon University. While at university, he discovered an arts association and became involved in traditional ‘anyeint’ performances, which introduced him to satire and comedy performance. In 1988, a nationwide rebellion against the totalitarian regime erupted at the university and spread across the country. Lin, active in student politics, joined the uprising. After the military violently suppressed the movement, he fled to a refugee camp on the border with India. There, he met the artist Sitt Nyein Aye and developed his skills further under his guidance. He later moved to a rebel student camp in Pajau, near the Chinese border, but was detained by a rival student faction. He escaped in 1992 and returned to Yangon (formerly Rangoon), completing his law degree in 1995.
After graduating, Lin began working as an actor and comedian, while also developing his practice in performance art. In 1998, he was arrested on fabricated charges of attempting to organise a protest marking the tenth anniversary of the 1988 uprising. He was imprisoned for nearly seven years. Despite harsh conditions and a ban on art materials, Lin’s visual practice flourished in prison. He produced roughly 1,000 paintings and drawings using improvised tools and materials, such as bed linen and uniforms, with brushes he fashioned himself. Hundreds of these works were smuggled out, forming a compelling visual archive of his incarceration. After his release in 2004, he resumed his performance art practice in Yangon, continuing to challenge political repression. In 2005, Lin met Vicky Bowman, then the British ambassador to Myanmar. They married and relocated to London in 2006, living there for seven years. During this period, Lin expanded his performance practice, held workshops, and exhibited his drawings and paintings internationally. His first solo exhibition was at Asia House, London, in 2007, and in 2008 he performed in Trafalgar Square. In 2010, he co-curated the first Burmese Arts Festival in London with Richard Shannon, a lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London.
As an artist, Lin’s visual language is predominantly figurative, marked by an expressive, energetic style. His prison works convey a visceral sense of anger, claustrophobia and frustration, with recurring patterns and clusters of shapes evoking the monotony of daily life behind bars or suggesting a chorus of dissenting voices. Other pieces reflect a more humorous and spirited tone, as seen in his ongoing series about England, begun in 2006 and titled How do you find…?, a nod to a common question he was asked by locals.
With the beginning of tentative democratic reforms in Myanmar in 2011, Lin and Bowman returned to Yangon in 2013. He continued to produce politically engaged works, including Show of Hands, an ongoing project composed of plaster casts of dissidents’ hands. In 2018, he curated the Seven Decades exhibition at the historic Secretariat building in Yangon, featuring 18 artists reflecting on Myanmar’s post-independence history. In 2021, the military retook control in a coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government. In 2022, Lin and Bowman were arrested for failing to register a change of address. Both were later released; Bowman was deported to London, while Lin remains in Myanmar under travel restrictions. Throughout his career, Lin has steadfastly resisted censorship and repression, maintaining his role as a vocal critic of authoritarian rule. He continues to produce work from Myanmar and to exhibit work internationally. A major solo exhibition of his work was held at the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham in 2025. His work is not represented in the UK public domain.