Freedom to Lead

shepard-fairey-free-to-leadUS street artist Shepard Fairey created a poster for Luc Besson’s  film, “The Lady“, which focused on the life of Burmese pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi who was born 19 June 1945. The image is based on his previous work of Suu Kyi but has been changed to represent Michelle Yeoh who plays the politician in the film. (Why someone tagged over this piece I will never know).

Suu Kyi has been the recipient of some of the world’s greatest awards including:

  • Rafto Prize (1990),
  • Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought (1990),
  • Nobel Peace Prize (1991),
  • Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding by the government of India (1992),
  • International Simón Bolívar Prize from the government of Venezuela.
  • Wallenberg Medal (2011)
  • United States Congressional Gold Medal (2012)

She remained under house arrest in Burma for almost 15 years  becoming one of the world’s most prominent political prisoners. In 2012, her party, the National League for Democracy, announced that she was elected to the Pyithu Hluttaw, the lower house of the Burmese parliament. On 6 June, 2013, Suu Kyi announced on the World Economic Forum’s website that she wants to run for the presidency in Myanmar’s 2015 elections.

May she be given the ‘Freedom to Lead’.

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