Since the coup on February 1, 2021, which saw the military junta over-
throw the government of Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar has been plunged
into chaos. A civil war is raging across almost the entire country, pitting
the junta against a myriad of armed groups created or strengthened in
response to the coup.

Chin State, locally know as "Chinland", isolated in the mountains in the west of the country, near India, is a symbol of this resistance. It was one of the first regions to rise up. The ethnic group living in this land, the Chin, are mostly Protestant Christians and have been persecuted by successive military governments. The current junta has made no exception. Massacres, war crimes, destruction of villages and churches: in Chinland, the land of the Chin, the Buddhist junta has shown the extent of its cruelty in this war that has left thousands of civilian casualties across the country.

These unpunished atrocities have, for more than three years, pushed the
Chin youth to join one of the many fighting organizations formed in the
state, including the Chin National Army (CNA), which now includes nearly
3,000 fighters. In Camp Victoria, their original stronghold, hundreds of
young soldiers, some as young as fifteen, gather to learn how to handle
weapons and participate in the revolution. Here, they fight for the return of
democracy, the establishment of a federal state – which means autonomy
for their ethnic group – but also for their future.

At the end of 2023, a major offensive coordinated by three ethnic armed
groups in the north shifted the balance of power in Myanmar, encou-
raging other resistance movements across the country to intensify their
offensives. Since then, the various Chin groups have been winning victory
after victory, and nearly 80% of Chin State’s territory is under their control,
forcing the junta to retreat to the besieged major cities.
But resistance comes at a heavy cost. Entire regions are cut off from the
world, health infrastructure is decimated, and famine looms large. The
humanitarian crisis has reached unprecedented levels, with 3.4 million
displaced internally, according to the UN. Local organizations estimate
this figure could rise to 6 million.

This long terme project reflects work done between 2022 and 2025 across four trips to Myanmar. It provides an intimate look into the guerrilla fighting the junta in the west, as a symbol of what is happening on a national scale.