THE RELEASE

The crowd gathered outside the house of Aung San Suu Kyi on the evening of her release.Rangoon, Burma. November. 2010.Photo: Pietro Masturzo/OnOff Picture

Aung San Suu Kyi talks to the supporters from behind the fence outside her home just after she was released.Rangoon, Burma. November 2010. Photo: Pietro Masturzo/OnOff Picture

A supporter of Aung San Suu Kyi shows satisfaction with the news of the release of “the Lady” reported on the front page of a newspaper.Rangoon, Burma. November, 2010.Photo: Pietro Masturzo/OnOff Picture

Aung San Suu Kyi arrives to her party’s headquarters on the day after her release.Rangoon, Burma. November, 2010.Photo: Pietro Masturzo/OnOff Picture

Aung San Suu Kyi’s supporters welcome the arrival of their leader outside the NLD’s headquarters.Rangoon, Burma. November, 2010.Photo: Pietro Masturzo/OnOff Picture

Aung San Suu Kyi greets her supporters gathered outside the NLD’s headquarers.Rangoon, Burma. November, 2010.Photo: Pietro Masturzo/OnOff Picture

Aung San Suu Kyi’s first public speech after her release.Rangoon, Burma. November, 2010.Photo: Pietro Masturzo/OnOff Picture

Aung San Suu Kyi visits an HIV centre some days after her release.Rangoon, Burma. November, 2010.Photo: Pietro Masturzo/OnOff Picture

THE ELECTIONS

NLD-supporters go wild with enthusiasm after hearing party leader Aung San Suu Kyi speak at a rally at Dagon Port Township, south of Rangoon.Burma. 21 March, 2012.Photo: Sim Chi Yin/VII Mentor Program

Thousands of people line the roads, waiting for over two hours to see Aung San Suu Kyi at a rally at Dagon Port Township.Burma. 21 March, 2012.Photo: Sim Chi Yin/VII Mentor Program

Aung San Suu Kyi arrives at a rally at Dagon Port Township.Burma, 21 March, 2012.Photo: Sim Chi Yin/VII Mentor Program

During the election campaign Aung San Suu Kyi addresses a crowd of supporters at Yuzana Garden City in Dagon South Township.Burma. 21 March, 2012.Photo: James Nachtwey

During a campaign speech by Aung San Suu Kyi, children in the audience cheer her words, as a young Buddhist monk stands by. Kawhmu, Burma. 22 March, 2012.Photo: James Nachtwey

Aung San Suu Kyi addresses a crowd of supporters from a stage set up in Kawhmu, the district from which she ran for a seat in Parliament. The stage is decorated with a picture of her father, the founder of modern Burma, as well as the party symbol of the “Fighting Peacock”.22 March, 2012.Photo: James Nachtwey

Mother DemocracyAung San Suu Kyi

Finally, Aung San Suu Kyi is coming to Oslo to deliver her Nobel Lecture on 16 June – 21 years after her eldest son received the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf in 1991. This exhibit is a tribute to Aung San Suu Kyi, her strength and untiring battle for democracy in Burma.

Despite widespread fraud in Burma’s 2010 national elections, and the military’s continuing political domination, positive po-litical change in the country has recently come about. Several

political prisoners have been freed, and on 13 November, 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest. In April this year a supplemental vote was carried out. Aung San Suu Kyi and her party, the National League of Democracy (NLD), partic-ipated in the election, and won an overwhelming victory.

Optimism can again be found among the Burmese people. Suu Kyi is met on all sides by jubilant masses with flags and banners hailing her as “Mother Democracy”.

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Congo Afghanistan Syrie

Yemen Bangladesh Serbie

Norway

THE ELECTIONS

During the celebration, an NLD supporter holds up his mobile phone with a picture of Aung San Suu Kyi, who is respectfully and affectionately known as “The Lady” to the Burmese population.Burma. 1 April, 2012.Photo: James Nachtwey

Aung San Suu Kyi departs from a campaign rally in Kawhmu. She emerges from the sun roof to shake hands with thousands of well-wishers who lined the road. A staff member holds a parasol to protect her from the sunBurma. 22 March, 2012.Photo: James Nachtwey

The day after the election, Aung San Suu Kyi goes to NLD headquarters for meetings with her staff. Standing on a platform behind the office gates, she addresses the hundreds of foreign and local journalists who had been waiting for her.Rangoon, Burma. 2 April, 2012.Photo: James Nachtwey

NLD-supporters celebrate their victory in the parliamentary elections outside the party headquarters in Rangoon. NLD declared Aung San Suu Kyi had won a seat in Burma’s Parliament election.Burma. 1 April, 2012.Photo: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

“If you feel helpless, go help someone.”

“We will surely get to our destination if we join hands.”

“We are at the beginning of a road.”

“No endeavor – no hope.”

Aung San Suu Kyi

THE PEOPLE

A young boatman works at a jetty. Children and teenagers are often seen working at teashops and jetties in Rangoon and Mandalay.Rangoon, Burma. 24 March, 2012.Photo: Sim Chi Yin/VII Mentor Program

For Rangoon’s street vendors, reforms also mean new rules, which dictate they must be cleared off the roads by 8 p.m. each night.Burma. 23 March, 2012.Photo: Sim Chi Yin/VII Mentor Program

Monks are seen during a leisurely visit to Mandalay Hill. Monks, who are revered in this largely Buddhist country, led a mass protest in 2007 leading to a crackdown and an exodus of Burmese activists into neighboring Thailand.Mandalay, Burma, 18 March, 2012Photo: Sim Chi Yin/VII Mentor Program

Locals are seen at a tea shop. Chatter in Rangoon’s tea shops might have become somewhat less furtive of late but perhaps less so in shops like this one in Myitkyina, capi-tal of northern Burma’s Kachin State, where ethnic conflict is unresolved.Burma, 13 March, 2012.Photo: Sim Chi Yin/VII Mentor Program

Women work alongside men at a construction site for a new office in downtown Rangoon. The women earn less than the men.Burma. 20 March, 2012.Photo: Sim Chi Yin/VII Mentor Program

Young men and women, some merely in their early teens, carry wooden logs off boats and onto trucks at Mandalay’s jetty. They earn less than USD 5 per day.Burma. 17 March, 2012.Photo: Sim Chi Yin/VII Mentor Program

THE PARLIAMENT

Aung San Suu Kyi walks to take an oath at the lower house of parliament.Naypyitaw, Burma. 2 May, 2012. Photo: Soe Zeya Tun, Reuters/NTB

Aung San Suu Kyi walks after the aparliament session in the lower house of parliament on 2 May 2012.Burma. 2 May, 2012Photo: Soe Zeya Tun, Reuters/NTB

Aung San Suu Kyi and members of parliament from the National League for Democracy take their oaths in the lower house of parliament.Naypyitaw, Burma. 2 May, 2012Photo: Nyein Chan Naing, EPA/NTB

Aung San Suu Kyi talks to media after she attended her first session at the Pyithu Hluttaw, the Burma Lower House of parliament.Naypyitaw, Burma, 2 May, 2012Photo: Nyein Chan Naing, EPA/NTB