Ko Wunna Kyaw stands among children representing ASEAN countries at an awards ceremony in Yangon on August 17.

A CEREMONY was held at the National Theatre in Yangon on August 17 to honour a local artist who won a top prize at the ASEAN Award of Excellence in Arts and Crafts Exhibition in Bangkok earlier this year.

At the ceremony, artist Ko Wunna Kyaw was awarded US$1000 on behalf of the exhibition organisers, the ASEAN Committee on Culture and Information (ASEAN-COCI), for taking the prize as the top Myanmar entrant in the contest.

The exhibition, which was held on March 10 and 11 in Bangkok, chose the best artwork from each of the 10 ASEAN member countries. Each winning artist was awarded $1000 by COCI.

Prior to the exhibition, the Ministry of Culture had called for submissions of artwork from Myanmar artists for consideration to take part in the contest. Among more than 30 entries, five artworks were chosen and each was awarded FEC100 by the ministry.

Ko Wunna Kyaw’s artwork – a tea set made from coconut husks – was chosen by COCI as the best from among the five entries from Myanmar.

“I didn’t think my tea set would be chosen for the contest because it didn’t exactly fit into any of the categories,” he said.

There were five categories for the exhibition: earthenware, cotton products, cane products, sculpture and jewellery, and modern crafts.

He said it was difficult to earn a living making coconut husk artwork because locals are not familiar with the art form and making each piece is time consuming.

“Though it’s hard to earn living in this business, I will continue to make coconut art because it makes me happy to create things based on my imagination,” said Ko Wunna Kyaw.

U San Win, the director general of the Department of Cultural Institute under the Ministry of Culture, said COCI held the exhibition with the aim of promoting the traditional handicrafts of member countries, encouraging the artists, and helping create an international market for handicrafts from those countries.

U Aung Thwin, a retired director of the Department of Fine Arts, said it was important to support young artists because they can represent the country internationally.

“Every country has its own precious culture and heritage. It is very important to teach young children to appreciate this culture and to create artwork that will maintain their heritage,” he said.