In Narcissus, a silk sheet filled with kapok (a cotton-like fibre) is bound tightly with black rope, twisted and placed on a pristine mirror. Based on the myth of Narcissus, Po Po says,

I wanted to explore the universal role that narcissism plays at all times, in politics, business, nationalism, racism, individualism and also within everyone. People are all trapped by narcissism.¹

Po Po first created the work as a temporary outdoor installation for his personal enjoyment, placing it on a lawn so that his reflection in the mirror would appear against the shifting clouds. To Po Po the reflection appeared other-worldly and alluded to the ephemeral nature of self in Buddhist philosophy. As Po Po shares, he “saw himself, but he did not see ‘him,’ but Narcissus instead.” The artist’s playful exploration of semiotics began in the 1970s. His engagement with the Western mythological tradition and Buddhist philosophy within a controlled, minimalist aesthetic was innovative for Myanmar at the time. The work also represents a period when Po Po experimented freely with different materials and media. In 1997 Po Po included the work in his solo exhibition, showing it alongside other works that engaged with conceptual possibilities of forms and new materials.

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1. Po Po, in an artist statement, shared with author on 5 June 2025.