Snap Judgments
Insight Myanmar31 Okt 2025

Snap Judgments

Episode #423: Ian Taylor is a Canadian photographer whose life shifted from the film industry to decades of work and travel across Southeast Asia. His first experience was with a government-sponsored Asian Studies program in the early 1990s. His early visits to Burma during the junta’s “Visit Myanmar Year” left a strong impression, and he became involved for a short time in advertising there.

By the late 1990s, Taylor had left advertising for photography, focusing on family portraits and NGO assignments across Asia. A formative volunteer trip to Bangladesh further deepened his commitment to humanitarian work, and led him back to Burma.

Taylor left the country in 2015, but reconnected in 2023 through the Thailand-based Border Consortium (TBC). He soon embarked on a volunteer photo project in five refugee camps, describing them as “an active, bustling town with everything.” His photography resists exploitative “poverty porn” and favors portraits that reflect dignity and agency. “Every portrait, in some way, it’s a collaboration.”

Critical of the tourism industry’s distortions, Taylor remains focused on authenticity, connection, and service. In his words: “If you could go to a holiday in the Maldives or something... well, I’d rather go [to a refugee camp]!”

Episoder(509)

This Land Was Our Land

This Land Was Our Land

Episode #285: “We can't live under the mercy of Rakhine or the Burmese. Would you give your personal guarantee that the atrocities that have been committed over the decades, and centuries, for that ma...

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Rising Above the Static

Rising Above the Static

Episode #284: Aye Chan Naing is a pioneering journalist and activist dedicated to independent media in Myanmar. He co-founded the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) in the years following the military's ...

15 Nov 20241h 44min

Twelve Years in Burma

Twelve Years in Burma

Episode #283: Friedgard Lottermoser, who passed away in August 2024 at 82, lived an extraordinary life. Her story, comparable to Heinrich Harrer’s in “Seven Years in Tibet,” has never been fully told—...

12 Nov 20242h 34min

The Revolution Will Be Steeped

The Revolution Will Be Steeped

Episode #282: Brian Hioe has been a life-long activist. He participated in Occupy Wall Street, Japan’s anti-nuclear protests, and the Sunflower Movement, which protested Taiwan’s growing economic ties...

8 Nov 202458min

Running Up That Hill

Running Up That Hill

Episode #281: Born into conflict, Lartar grew up as the daughter of a Karen National Union (KNU) commander in the remote jungles of Myanmar. From the tender age of three, her life was almost a never-e...

5 Nov 20241h 52min

Mindfulness from the Ashes

Mindfulness from the Ashes

Episode #280: Episode #280: In this episode, Matthew Schojan shares his deeply personal journey through recovery, spiritual practice, and public service. Beginning in his early teens, Matthew faced si...

1 Nov 20241h 26min

Cracking the Code

Cracking the Code

Episode #279: “Having internet or having information is life and death in those areas If you have internet you can at least know if the airplanes are coming, if the battles are becoming intensive in t...

29 Okt 20242h 14min

Silent No More

Silent No More

Episode #278: The 4th International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies (ICBMS) took place in August 2024, hosted by Chiang Mai University's RCSD. The event gathered scholars, activists, and experts t...

25 Okt 20241h 2min

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