May Hmoo

Background

About May Hmoo

I have always known I wanted to be in the creative field ever since I was little. Growing up in Myanmar, I would always go to the bookstore, pick up comics and while reading them, I would pay close attention to the drawings. I have always enjoyed watching people draw and by watching, I learned. Learning through observation was crucial to me as I grew up, moving to different countries; Belgium in elementary school, United States in middle and high school and France in college. I adapted to new cultures and environments by observing daily, drawing pictures with my eyes. Architecture intrigued me as I could put my detail oriented skills to use, drawing spaces that I have imagined and captured with my eyes and in my head in reality. In school, I have been able to work on many different projects ranging from houses, apartments, shopping malls, hospitals, museum to cultural centers. Growing up in a eurocentric world, I wanted to explore a non eurocentric architecture relating to my native country, Myanmar. My master thesis and project is about the reinterpretation of traditional Burmese architecture towards contemporary architecture through the study of tectonics and ornaments. Even with limited resources, I have studied the construction techniques of post and beam as well as textile weaving to understand the basic of weaved bamboo walls and materials such as wood, brick and bamboo. My interest in Arts and Creatives extend further towards music. In my free time, I play guitar and piano as well as sing to entertain a small group of people. The method of learning through observation has played a big role in my life as I have never taken guitar or vocal lessons. This skill of mine will come in handy as I have many more to learn in the future through real job and life experiences.