Sarah Mirkin

In 2007 my husband Bernard and I travelled to Burma (Myanmar).  We were in a small city – not Rangoon – in the northern part of the country.  Our guide took us to a small shop with a variety of objects for sale.  It might have been an antique shop, but everything in that country looked like an antique, so it was hard to tell. 

Bernard was busy giving the owner copies of the New York Times, which he had smuggled into the country.  He knew that the Burmese were hungry for news from outside the country.  The repressive political regime did not allow any information to circulate within the Burmese population.

I wandered upstairs to a room that was like an attic filled with random objects.  I found a puppet dumped in a corner and covered with dust.  It was old, dirty, and torn.  I carried it downstairs and bought it, much to the surprise of the shop owner.  I don’t think he had many sales that day, or any other.   It was then up to Bernard to carry it back to Chicago. The puppet is very heavy, and I am allergic to dust.

I believe that this unique creature has some relation to the mythological figure Ganesh, a huge elephant-like image which protects the Burmese people and is the God of Wisdom. Or so I am told.

The puppet now hangs on a wall in my apartment directly opposite the front door.  It is the first thing one sees upon entering my home.  It protects me.