The Inya Gallery

Not far from the junction with University Road, a sinuous, narrow street opens from the always-busy Inya Road. It is said to lead to one of the oldest galleries in Yangon, the Inya Gallery of Art. Once you’ve finally found the street, also known as Inya Road, however strong you are in maths, it will still remain a challenge to orient among the house numbers as they don’t really follow the usual ‘increasing’ scheme but provide a colorful game of letters and randomly disposed gates. After perhaps the third curve, the familiar name eventually arises and invites the visitor to enter a timeless space strictly dedicated to contemporary art.

The Inya Gallery of Art, is still today, quite an unconventional place amongst other galleries. Surrounded by tall trees, a garden opens up after a long path leading to a studio-like space: next to it a hall containing paintings, from recent to previous periods. The roots of the Gallery go back to the very end of the 80s. After an era of more than two decades during which the exhibitions on the Myanmar art scene were regulated by central committees and art councils, came a chapter in history where exhibitions were even less allowed after the events of ‘88.