Htein Lin is one of Burma's most highly regarded artists. His conceptual works include painting, installation and performance. Born in 1966 in Ingapu, Ayeyarwady Division, he was active in the 1988 student movement at Rangoon University where he studied law. After going underground after the military takeover he was arrested in 1998 and jailed on spurious accusations of opposition activity, he spent almost seven years in jail (1998-2004). During this time he developed his artistic practice, using items available to him like bowls and cigarette lighters in the absence of brushes to make paintings and monoprints on the cotton prison uniform.
Htein Lin was born in Mezaligon, Ayeyarwady Region in Burma. From 1985, he studied for a Bachelor of Law (LLB) degree at Yangon University. Together with other students, he was expelled in 1988 for protesting about the lack of investigation into the death of another student.
Following involvement with protests, Htein Lin, together with other activists, withdrew to camps on the border with India. Here he became a member of the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF), opposed to the Burmese military regime. During this period, he studied with the artist Sitt Nyein Aye from Mandalay, learning about western artists such as Pablo Picasso and Vincent van Gogh. He used his skills to add illustrations the publications of the ABSDF. He was involved with internal conflicts within the ABSDF in 1991 and was imprisoned. In 1993, Htein Lin continued his law degree, which he completed in 1994.
Instead of working in the legal profession, Htein Lin became an artist and also an actor in comic films (as "Htein Htein") in the mid 1990s. He led the way with modern Burmese performance art. His artistic performances included The Little Worm in the Ear, in Yangon, and Guitarist in 1996.
Htein Lin spent 6½ years as a political prisoner in Burma from 1998-2004. He continued to perform for fellow inmates in prison. Officially, he was not permitted to paint while imprisoned. However, he managed to produce several hundred paintings secretly, using white cotton prison uniforms, as well as about a thousand drawings. He bribed the prison guards to smuggle paint to him, but it was too dangerous to have a paintbrush in his cell. Instead, he used various objects that were available to him, including cigarette lighters, pieces of glass, plates, nets, razor blades, syringes, or simply his fingers and hands. He used a monoprint technique.
After his release from prison in 2004, he returned to art and performance. His May 2005 Rangoon street performance entitled Mobile Art Gallery/Mobile Market meant he was interrogated by the authorities again.
He was introduced in 2005 to the British Ambassador in Yangon, Vicky Bowman, who took receipt of his prison paintings and ensured their preservation by loaning them to the Burma Archives Project at the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam. He later married Bowman and they moved to live in London for seven years.
During his time in the UK, Htein Lin undertook performance art in Trafalgar Square, central London, on 1 June 2008.
He also had exhibitions and performed in Finland, France, Hong Kong, Norway, Thailand, Czech Republic and the United States of America. In addition, he has performed at the 2007 Venice Biennale and at festivals in Finland, Japan, Malaysia, and the Philippines. His performances draw on his artistic life as well as aiming to raise awareness of the Burmese political situation.
Htein Lin has continued to use the monoprint technique in his subsequent paintings. These draw on his Theravada Buddhist faith, Burmese symbols and traditions, his early experience as a comedian in "anyeint" satirical performances, and events such as Cyclone Nargis and the Saffron Revolution.
In 2013, Htein Lin returned to live in Rangoon, and commenced his project A Show of Hands Project. In 2014 he returned one week in prison to train prisoners to Vipassana meditation and monoprint painting techniques In November 2015, Htein Lin campaigned in the delta area for the National League for Democracy of Aung San Suu Kyi and his native township Ingapu.
In the aftermath of the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, he was reportedly detained in Yangon on 24 August 2022, along with his wife Vicky Bowman, and charged with immigration offences. PEN America called for his immediate release. He was released in November 2022, as part of a mass pardon to mark National Day.