INFORMATION RELEASE / KARENNI / BUR

[brelief@xxxxxxx]

INFORMATION RELEASE / KARENNI / BURMA

DEAN CHAPMAN has been chosen as the photographer winner for the 'European
Publishers' Award for Photography 1998.'  The proposal for the book
publication award made by the photographer in February 1998, comprised of
photographs and text about the Karenni.  

The title of the book will be 
"KARENNI, THE FORGOTTEN WAR OF A NATION BESIEGED."  
The book will be on general release in September 1998.  

The official announcement of the award winner was made on July 6, 1998 at
the "28th Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie" in Arles, France.

The book will be published simultaneously by five publishers in five
languages.  The publishers of the book are as follows;

DEWI LEWIS PUBLISHING  [English language edition]
8 Broomfield Road, Heaton Moor, Stockport, SK4 4ND, ENGLAND
Tel/Fax: 44 (0) 161 442 9450
E-mail: dewilewispublishing@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

EDITION BRAUS  [German language edition]
Hebelstrasse 10, W-691115 Heidelberg, GERMANY
Tel: 49 (0) 6221 1408-0
Fax: 49 (0) 6221 1408-6

EDITIONS HAZAN  [French language edition]
35-37 Rue de Seine, 75006 Paris, FRANCE
Tel: 33 (0) 1 44 41 17 00
Fax: 33 (0) 1 44 41 17 09

LUNWERG EDITORES  [Spanish language edition]
Sagasta 27, 28004 Madrid, SPAIN
Tel: 34 91 593 00 58
Fax: 34 91 593 00 70

PELITI ASSOCIATI  [Italian language edition and 1998 project leader]
Viale Beata Vergine del Carmelo 12, 00144 Rome, ITALY
Tel: 39 (0) 6 52 95 548
Fax: 39 (0) 6 52 92 351
E-mail: peliti@xxxxxxxxx

LEICA CAMERA AG is the main sponsor of the award.  

The size of the book will be 28.6 x 21cm.  
There will be 128 pages in the book.  

There will be around 80 black and white images in the book.  
Brief summary of imagery;
Frontline military positions inside the Karenni State, Karenni Army
soldiers, All Burma Students' Democratic Front soldiers, child soldiers,
amputees, frontline fighting, wounded soldiers, Karenni Army training
camps, Burmese Army POWs and men forced to porter for the Burmese military.  
Kayah/Kayaw/Kayan nationalities, Karenni refugee camps along the
Karenni/Thai border, victims of forced relocation by the Burmese Army,
refugees fleeing attacks in Thailand by the Burmese military, Karenni
clinics, victims of malaria, malnourished children,
food-monkey/pig/dog/bamboo rat, schools, cutting bamboo and undergrowth,
animist festival, Buddhist Shin Pyu festival, Karen Baptist wedding,
Easter, Christmas, and an animist funeral.  

The introduction of the book has been written by Dean Chapman and is around
five thousand words long.  
Brief summary of the introduction;
Account of the second battle for Ember Hill, Karenni State.
Attack by the Burmese Army on a Karenni/ABSDF refugee camp inside Thailand.
Attack by the Burmese Army on the Karenni Religious Affairs Minister in
Thailand.
Karenni teenage soldier re-telling the story of his father being forced to
porter for the Burmese Army and then being executed.
Account of a Karenni Army soldier who served for over six years in the
Burmese military as a military policeman.
Stories of victims of forced relocation by the Burmese Army and accounts of
conditions in the 'concentration camps,' as well executions of children.
The breakdown of the cease-fire that was agreed between the Karenni
National Progressive Party and SLORC.
Battle accounts released by the Karenni Army.
Brief historical account of the invasion of the Karenni by Burmese Forces
on August 9, 1948.

An exhibition of photographs from the book will be shown at the Side
Gallery in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, from August 1 until September 13,
1998.  The title of the exhibition will be "Karenni- Nation Under Siege."  

An exhibition of some of the photographs was previously held at the Axis
Center in Kyoto, Japan, during March 1994.  

Dean Chapman was born in Corby, England in 1965.  He graduated from
Falmouth School of Art, England, in 1987.  
The Karenni project was started in July 1990 and completed in January 1998.
 The photographer lived with the Karenni Army and in Karenni refugee camps
for two years while making this document.  



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