Yaw Ni Café

The idea for Yaw Ni Café begins when Phoo Myat Thwe participated as a performer in the Vagina Monologues 2019 show. After Women’s day 2019 celebrations in March, there sparked a debate online in Myanmar about the involvement of Vagina Monologues show in the celebrations. The main conflicts focused on the open use of the word ‘Yaw Ni’ (which means Vagina in mother tongue) in public several times. Though the show was well-received by the general audience, the conflicts online stemmed from discomfort of open displays and verbalisations of woman’s body parts and sexuality. The attacks are not uncommon for activists and artists in Myanmar who speak on the issues of gender equality and feminism. Such conflicts highlight the problems of Myanmar society which still treats woman bodies as second-class, hidden subjects and will not allow equality in the name of misguided traditions. The café took the name Yaw Ni to fight for gender equality, to support feminist activism, feminist artists and to empower the word ‘Yaw Ni’ to stand in public blatantly. Phoo Myat Thwe envisioned to create a space, Yaw Ni Cafe, where people working for gender equality across multiple disciplinaries can gather to reflect on, improve, share their work and inspire each other.

There are a handful of artists and activists fighting for gender equality but they each fight in their own principles and rarely have chances to cross path. Yaw Ni Cafe will act as a concrete space to bridge people together and amplify their work.

Read the full white paper here.

This project was presented at Young Curators Academy 2019, Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin.

Yawni Café Logo design by Meemi Maung.

Photo taken by Phoo Myat Thwe in the streets of Berlin.

Yaw Ni Café logo is based on a bar entrance design Phoo Myat Thwe came across in the streets of Berlin. The huge red opened mouth represents the voices of women that should be encouraged to be louder and heard. In Myanmar culture, women who speaks of their opinions bluntly are also labeled as unlikeable loud mouthed women. The logo represents and empowers the women to keep speaking out and standing up for themselves. The mouth is also slightly shaped as a vagina, a small clitoris at the left side is included.

During the months of August to October, I interviewed 15 women about their experiences as a woman, their thoughts on feminism and the everyday issues they face as a woman. The statements in this video are extracted from these interviews, compiled and acted out by voice actors and fitting visuals to tell the stories.

This video was made to be a part of the presentation at Young Curators Academy.

Director of Photography/ Editor : Kaung Myat Ko (Rafael Rodrigues on Facebook)

Creative Director : Phoo Myat Thwe

# Powered by Aspect Video Production

You can watch about the Young Curators Academy here.

Image via Maxim Gorki Theater.

Phoo Myat Thwe presenting about her project, Yaw Ni Café.

👸🏽(Queens Everywhere’ Filter in bio and profile. ) Halloween is here and even in disguise and in costume, you can still channel your inner queen. Show us your Halloween fits in our filter. Don’t forget to tag @yawni_cafe when using the
👸🏽(Queens Everywhere’ Filter in bio and profile. ) Halloween is here and even in disguise and in costume, you can still channel your inner queen. Show us your Halloween fits in our filter. Don’t forget to tag @yawni_cafe when using the
(*Queens Everywhere’ Filter in bio and profile. ) Halloween is near and even in disguise and in costume, you can still channel your inner queen. Show us your Halloween fits in our filter. Don’t forget to tag @yawni_cafe when using the fil
(Filter link in bio + profile) We have hit 4.5k-5k impressions within 2 days since launch.👑🌠🔮 There will be a Giveaway once we hit 100 K impressions so keep snapping.🎁 Thank you for each and everyone of you who took part too. 😊🙏🏻 Don’t f
‘Queens Everywhere’ AR Filter Launch. (Filter link in bio and on profile) A collaborative project + creation with @chaxnsee @meemimgtain @meemiexpress. You can also find the filter in the filter effects library in Instagram by typing i
The term girl is sometimes used colloquially to refer to a young or unmarried woman; however, during the early 1970s, feminists challenged such use because the use of the word to refer to a fully grown woman may cause offence. In particular, previous
The heart is capable of sacrifice. So is the vagina. The heart is able to forgive and repair. It can change it's shape to let us in. It can expand to let us out. So can the vagina. It can ache for us and stretch for us, die for us and bleed and bleed
Artwork and Logo Design by @meemimgtain Follow more of her work at @meemiexpress What is Yaw Ni Cafè? Yaw Ni Cafe is a project which aims to open a cafe/ bar/ art gallery space, aiming to promote social cohesion relating to gender issues b
Hello everyone, Yaw Ni Cafe team together with @purplefeminists (Purple Feminists Group) is planning a self-care webinar, discussions platform and podcasts oriented to womxn, where we will give information about individual self-care with advices fro
We being our movie nights again at @myanmardeitta next Sunday, February 2nd, 6 pm. We begin again with Orlando, a film inspired by the novel of Virginia Woolf. In Orlando, we go through the story of an omnisexual hero-heroine and ponders about what
How are y’all doing these days? Yaw Ni Cafe has not been very active but we are currently in the plannings of exciting activities so stay tuned! . . . . [Photo Credit goes to respective owner]
Happy New Year! Yaw Ni Cafe’ wishes you a year full of orgasms and happiness! Again, “orgasms!” cause that’s important. 💝💝💝 Photo Source : Unsplash #newyearwish #orgasm #happynewyear2020
What’s gender anyway? You can be whatever
Dickusa and a banana
‘Flow’ by @meemimgtain #art #vaginaart #womanbodies

Yaw Ni Café Instagram account, @yawni_cafe.

#vaginas #vaginadrawings #yawnidrawings #yawnicafe
#vaginas #vaginadrawings #yawnidrawings #yawnicafe
#vaginas #vaginadrawings #yawnidrawings #yawnicafe
#vaginas #vaginadrawings #yawnidrawings #yawnicafe
#vaginas #vaginadrawings #yawnidrawings #yawnicafe
#vaginas #vaginadrawings #yawnidrawings #yawnicafe
#vaginas #vaginadrawings #yawnidrawings #yawnicafe
#vaginas #vaginadrawings #yawnidrawings #yawnicafe
#vaginas #vaginadrawings #yawnidrawings #yawnicafe
#vaginas #vaginadrawings #yawnidrawings #yawnicafe
#vaginas #vaginadrawings #yawnidrawings #yawnicafe
#vaginas #vaginadrawings #yawnidrawings #yawnicafe
#vaginas #vaginadrawings #yawnidrawings #yawnicafe
#vaginas #vaginadrawings #yawnidrawings #yawnicafe
#vaginas #vaginadrawings #yawnidrawings #yawnicafe
#vaginas #vaginadrawings #yawnidrawings #yawnicafe

@yawnidrawings by @yawni_café. An online database of vagina badges collected over time based on the idea of Myanmar Artist, Yadanar Win.

The badges were made to share with the audience at Maxim Gorki Theater. After the presentation, each badge was distributed among the audience. Each unique badge was hand drawn and machine pressed by different individuals who wished to contribute to the project. By sharing these unique expressions, I wished to connect the diverse range of people via creative expressions.

Yaw Ni Café hosted many film screenings and workshops over the years until 2021 coup in Myanmar. It hosted bi-weekly screenings at Tribe Theory Myanmar (Now Draper Startup House) since middle of 2019 until Covid hits Myanmar in early 2020. Yaw Ni Café briefly continued the screening activities at contemporary photography gallery, Myanmar Deitta in Yangon as well. The first sexual self care workshop under the title Womxn self-care was held online on 31st January 2021, one day before the February 1st 2021 coup in Myanmar took place. Yaw Ni Café has halted its activities since then. However, the need for space for women to come together still remains an essential in Myanmar society, especially as the diasporas are spread across the globe as the situation progresses inside the country.

This 1.5 hour interactive workshop introduces participants to sexual self-care. Participants will be introduced to what sexual self-care is and nine sexual self-care practices. These include research, boundaries, communication, photos, affirmations, touch, discovering your body, orgasm equality, and masturbation. Participants will then discuss their own experiences with the different sexual self-care practices and how they can be applied to their own life and self-care routine. Please join ready and willing to participate and share your experiences and thoughts with others. The workshop will be confidential in nature. 

Instructor Bio : Lisa Vance 

Lisa is a sex positive feminist. She believes that sexuality is a natural and healthy part of the human experience. She also believes that the promotion and acceptance of womxn as sexual and sensual beings with the sovereignty to make their own sexual choices is a key component of womxn’s overall liberation and empowerment. Lisa has over seven years of experience as an educator, trainer, and facilitator. She is excited to facilitate this interactive workshop and to learn about other womxn’s experiences!