Yaw Ni Café
The idea for Yaw Ni Café begins when Phoo Myat Thwe participated as a performer in the Vagina Monologues 2019 show. After Women’s day 2019 celebrations in March, there sparked a debate online in Myanmar about the involvement of Vagina Monologues show in the celebrations. The main conflicts focused on the open use of the word ‘Yaw Ni’ (which means Vagina in mother tongue) in public several times. Though the show was well-received by the general audience, the conflicts online stemmed from discomfort of open displays and verbalisations of woman’s body parts and sexuality. The attacks are not uncommon for activists and artists in Myanmar who speak on the issues of gender equality and feminism. Such conflicts highlight the problems of Myanmar society which still treats woman bodies as second-class, hidden subjects and will not allow equality in the name of misguided traditions. The café took the name Yaw Ni to fight for gender equality, to support feminist activism, feminist artists and to empower the word ‘Yaw Ni’ to stand in public blatantly. Phoo Myat Thwe envisioned to create a space, Yaw Ni Cafe, where people working for gender equality across multiple disciplinaries can gather to reflect on, improve, share their work and inspire each other.
There are a handful of artists and activists fighting for gender equality but they each fight in their own principles and rarely have chances to cross path. Yaw Ni Cafe will act as a concrete space to bridge people together and amplify their work.
Read the full white paper here.
This project was presented at Young Curators Academy 2019, Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin.
Yawni Café Logo design by Meemi Maung.
Photo taken by Phoo Myat Thwe in the streets of Berlin.
During the months of August to October, Phoo Myat interviewed 15 women about experiences and everyday issues they experience as a woman. The statements in this video are extracted from these interviews, compiled and acted out by voice actors and fitting visuals to tell the stories.
This video was made to be a part of the presentation at Young Curators Academy.
Image via Maxim Gorki Theater.
Phoo Myat Thwe presenting about her project, Yaw Ni Café.
![How are y’all doing these days? Yaw Ni Cafe has not been very active but we are currently in the plannings of exciting activities so stay tuned! .
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. [Photo Credit goes to respective owner]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/64749c95987c0e0d93512a4a/1685813823920-EVH3V25K3BSEL4IOX0E2/image-asset.jpeg)
Yaw Ni Café Instagram account, @yawni_cafe.
@yawnidrawings by @yawni_café. An online database of vagina badges collected over time based on the idea of Myanmar Artist, Yadanar Win.
The badges were made to share with the audience at Maxim Gorki Theater. After the presentation, each badge was distributed among the audience. Each unique badge was hand drawn and machine pressed by different individuals who wished to contribute to the project. By sharing these unique expressions, I wished to connect the diverse range of people via creative expressions.
Yaw Ni Café hosted many film screenings and workshops over the years until 2021 coup in Myanmar. It hosted bi-weekly screenings at Tribe Theory Myanmar (Now Draper Startup House) since middle of 2019 until Covid hits Myanmar in early 2020. Yaw Ni Café briefly continued the screening activities at contemporary photography gallery, Myanmar Deitta in Yangon as well. The first sexual self care workshop under the title Womxn self-care was held online on 31st January 2021, one day before the February 1st 2021 coup in Myanmar took place. Yaw Ni Café has halted its activities since then. However, the need for space for women to come together still remains an essential in Myanmar society, especially as the diasporas are spread across the globe as the situation progresses inside the country.