Minzayar Oo is a 27-year-old Burmese photographer based in Yangon, Myanmar, represented by Panos Pictures. Since 2012, he has been freelancing for international news agencies, newspapers, magazines and INGOs in and around Myanmar.
He has covered many important stories and issues in Myanmar, including documentation of the long-term political, social and economical transition of the country, the persecution of the Rohingya in western Myanmar and also exposing issues surrounding Myanmar’s rarely-accessed, billion-dollar jade mining industry in conflict-torn Kachin State, and other subjects.
His work has been published in TIME, The New York Times, The Guardian, National Geographic, GEO and 6MOIS, La Repubblica, among others. Minzayar has won multiple awards at Yangon Photo Festival, 9th China International Press Photo, Foreign Correspondent Club of Thailand Asia-pacific Photojournalism Contest 2015, Days Japan International Photojournalism Awards 2016, Istanbul Photo Awards and 12th China International Press Photo. He was also nominated for Joop Swart Masterclass in 2016.
“Myanmar’s jade business may be the biggest natural resource heist in modern history”—essential reporting from one of the world’s least connected and most underrepresented countries, told from the perspective of a local storyteller.
Didier Millet,Csi, April 30, 2014