Nge Lay

Born in 1979, Nge Lay has a Bachelor Degree in economics and in fine arts from Yangon University of Culture. Nge Lay’s work shows concern about gender issues and about the lack of freedom in her country. Nge Lay lives and works in Paris, France.

In an interview she explains:
“In today’s Myanmar society, sexual discrimination in our everyday life and work environment is not as strong as before. However, due to deep-rooted conventions, as well as economic and political imbalances, the role of women has as not yet been recognised despite the fact that an icon such as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is more powerful than any male.”

She expresses herself mainly through performance and installations art and photography. Together with her husband Aung Ko, Nge Lay has also been involved in a community project in her husband’s hometown Tuye’dan Village, an isolated place, 340 km from Yangon, were the main activities were the exploitation of the forest and making charcoal. Because it was close to an ammunition factory, the people were afraid of any contact with people outside of the village, which could upset the government. Aung Ko and Nge Lay spent two years saving up money to set up this art project: the 1st Thuye’dan Village Art Project took place in 2007. Many artists were invited to participate in this project (Aung Myint, Aung Way, Cho Iwin, Kyee Myint, Moe Satt (1983–), Sann Oo, Than Htay Maung, Tun Win Aung (1975–), Wah Nu(1977–)). Since then, four more editions of the Village Art Project happened, in 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2013.
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Nge Lay has participated in numerous solo and group show internationally. She took part in If The World Changed at the Singapore Biennale 2013, the 8th Asia Pacific Triennale of Contemporary Art (APT8), Brisbane (2016), BAB Bangkok Art Biennale (2018) and the Children’s Biennale at the National Gallery Singapore (2019), Documenta, Kassel, Germany  (2022), the Palais de Tokyo (2024) the Venice Biennale (2024) and the Sharjah Biennale (2025) . She  was shortlisted for the Sovereign Asian Art Prize 2020.​

Nge Lay’s work is in the collections of major public institutions, such as the National Bank of Malaysia, the Singapore Art Museum, the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum and QAGOMA, Queensland Art Gallery, Gallery of modern Art.

Read Nge Lay’s latest interview on her reflections of an artist in exile.

Learn more in an earlier interview published by Tricycle