In creating a portrait sculpture of Dr. Cynthia Maung I have been challenged by the many facets of a complex personality. Dr. Cynthia is primarily a healer. The yard of her Mae Tao Clinic in Mae Sot is teeming with newly arrived refugees seeking treatment for a vast range of illness, disease and injury. One gets the feeling that once a patient has arrived in the compound, there is a sense of calmness that they have arrived in a safe place and that they will be tended to as significant human beings.
Dr. Cynthia's persona permeates this clinic and acts as an umbrella or more correctly, the arms of a mother that encircles the tired, weary and infirm as if they were all her children.
The true challenge to the artist in representing such a figure is to capture the vast range of dimensions of this woman. I have tried to capture her dignity, intelligence, compassion, warmth and good humor; all of which are apparent in Dr. Cynthia who is the epitome of calmness and serenity.
In studying her I discover at the foundation of her expressions is a genuine concern; a true caring for her patients. She is a potent combination of competence and compassion.
Hopefully I have done Dr. Cynthia justice in my efforts to accurately portray all the elusive qualities of this admirable human being. Few have played so important a part in dealing with the horrible results of an unjust and brutal regime.
Dr. Cynthia has already gained a well deserved reputation as a stellar representative of the Karen People and as a genuine hero of Burma.
