photo_01: The Thailand-Burma border: refugees, insurgent armies, migrant factory labourers, poverty, exploitation and vulnerability to abuses of both human and children's rights.
photo_02: Htun Min Pine, aged 12, and earning USD$1 / day for his labour. Child labour is commonplace along the Thailand-Burma border.
photo_03: The borders between Thailand and Burma are porous. With medical facilities in Burma being rated by the World Health Organisation as being some of the worst in the world, sick children are brought across the border illegally to facilities such as the clinic run by Dr Cynthia Maung.
photo_04: Burmese migrant labourers along the border are typically paid between USD$2-3 for working in factories. Agricultural labourers are paid less. Consequently the vast majority of Burmese migrant children in Thailand are brought up in poverty.
photo_05: The children of Burmese migrant labourers are looked after by a local Burmese migrant school.
Timothy Syrota works as a writer, photographer and documentary director. Timothy?s first book, ?Welcome to Burma and Enjoy the Totalitarian Experience? was published in 2001 (Orchid Press).
Timothy?s photographic work from Burma and the Thailand-Burma border has been the subject of a number of solo exhibitions in Thailand, the UK, and Australia. These have included exhibitions opened by former Australian Governor General, Sir Ninian Stephen, Nobel Peace Laureate, Jose Ramos Horta, and former Australian Ambassador to Burma, Professor Garry Woodard. Exhibitions have been funded by the likes of The Dame Elizabeth Murdoch Fund, the Melbourne City Council, Multicultural Arts Australia, and the University of Melbourne Cultural Committee. Timothy has twice been invited to exhibit at the Foreign Correspondents? Club, Thailand (FCCT) and won an FCCT photojournalism prize for his feature photo essay concerning Burmese migrant children on the Thailand-Burma border.
As a photographer, Timothy has worked with Save the Children (Thailand), ZOA Refugee Care, Handicap International, Amnesty International, APHEDA, the World Wild Life Fund, the International Women?s Development Agency, and the International Society for Human Rights.
Timothy has filmed, edited and directed three documentaries on Burma including the currently being released freelance feature documentary, Burmese Dreaming.
Timothy was the vice president of the International Society for Human Rights (Australia) 2001-2004 and founded and co-ordinates the Thailand-Burma Border Migrant Children?s Art Project.
Timothy lived on the Thailand-Burma border from 2004-2008 and continues to spend significant time there in order to facilitate ongoing work in South East Asia.
