1. Minzayar Oo is a local artist of Burma. It took Oo months to be able to even gain the opportunity to take these photographs. It took a series of 6 visits over a time span of over a year, each visit consisting of at least a month before he was able to gain the trust of the miners around him to let him take photographs. Oo made a series of photographs consisting of the miners work lives, working and living conditions and what they use to get through the day (in this case for a lot being Heroin and the industry around the mines is disregarded by the government). Oo tries to focus on the human aspect in this series and is on the side of the miners.
2. Oo's attempt was to show that it is a very hard and demanding life to be a Jade miner in Burma. Some of the jade miners are more focused on heroin and attempting to find a big jade find more so then they are focused on their own family and being a family. Oo depicts how some of the jade miners lead to heroin use to get through the hard work days. He even goes as far as to show illegal miners both swimming in to and out of the mining site, some to work, and others to attempt to leave with precious stones to attempt to individually sell.
3. The feeling I get when looking at these photographs is a dismal feeling. Photos like these remind how fortunate I am to live where I do and these photographs help me to empathize with the miners. I could not imagine having to leave my family and hometown to work like this or to even have to support my entire family, and the harsh working conditions that this job entails. It really gives you a lot of perspective when you see something like this and you wonder how it goes not talked about, unheard of, or unseen and you become thankful for those who are brave enough to photograph and talk about such events to bring them to light in hopes of change.
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