12/03/2025
When I was younger there were many big trees. With trees, we can get shade and water. We’d grow crops when we could, but when it’s dry in the hot season we’d go into the forest for hunting and fruits.
To build a house, all villagers come to help. Six or seven households go together to cut and collect the tree. Neighbours offer their service and use of their buffalo carts, and the house owner has to provide a meal of pork and whisky. All of this house is hand-sawn teak wood.
My grandfather was from this area. He was a woodcutter. Now my companions in this village have passed away.
Naw Ouk with her daughter Naw Po. Bago Yoma, Myanmar.
Exploring personal and professional connections to teak forests, trees and wood.
