Her work reveals a sweeping, five-meter-wide landscape bathed in warm evening tones, populated by numerous shadowy figures. Scattered across an expansive field, these figures resemble carelessly discarded cloth dolls. The uniform gray-brown hue of their bodies erases individual characteristics such as facial features or clothing. Like a vast shadow, the ashen palette conceals their identities. One of the figures has been rendered in three dimensions, serving as a bridge into another artistic dimension. A marking on the textile figure activates both a tactile and an acoustic layer, its sound reminiscent of traditional bronze gongs used by Buddhist monks to signal the end of prayer.

With her mixed-media work “Ash People’s Golden Land,” Zoncy Heavenly addresses the events surrounding the 2021 military coup in Myanmar, which marked the end of a democratic government and led to the violent deaths of countless protesters in the resistance movement.

Yet, the piece speaks not only of endings but also of beginnings and new life emerging. While model fighter jets hover menacingly in the sky above, lotus flowers bloom below among the motionless bodies. The lotus, a plant that grows in muddy water without being tainted, holds a central place in Buddhist belief as a symbol of purity and enlightenment.

Through these multiple layers of meaning, Zoncy Heavenly creates a profound bridge between life and death, between grief and hope. Her work invites reflection on transience, resistance, and renewal, revealing how art can transform political trauma into emotional and spiritual experience.

Visitors to the exhibition EXILE – Art Without Borders are invited to immerse themselves in Zoncy Heavenly’s powerful artistic vision, where sound, material, and symbolism intertwine to form a moving testament to resilience and remembrance.