A Greek’s Photo Journey in Burma to Redefine Love

60 days, 4 cities of Burma and 100 photo responses to the question “What is the meaning of Love.” This is the exciting photographic project of Maro Verli, entitled “From Myanmar… with Love.”

On September 17, 2014, Verli wrote at her personal blog: “I’m at the airport with my suitcase, my camera and my diary. In 14 hours, I will be in Burma, where I’ll stay for two months (If I don’t bear it, I won’t hesitate to come home sooner)”. And she continued: “Honestly, I am not sure that I know where is Burma on the map! But I’m certain, for the first time in my entire life, that I want to leave behind everything that reminds me of my daily routine to explore new worlds with my camera and my diary.”

In Burma, she met with people of all ages, from elderly people to children, and different religions, from Buddhist monks to Muslims, and Evangelical Christians. Despite their differences, all shared something common. Their willingness to honestly answer her question about the meaning of love.

Amongst the 100 answers that she managed to gather, Verli noticed that everybody agreed that “Love is kindness, love is giving, love is understanding…” It was then that she decided to present the product of her social experiment in her philanthropic photographic exhibition called “From Myanmar… with Love” that was presented in December 2014 in Yangon, Burma, where she now lives.

Verli grew up in Athens, Greece. While working in the Marketing and Media Communication industry, she found out that she had a passion for direct communication. Learning and absorbing new cultures, meeting new people and snooping into their personal stories fascinated her. Surrounded by a traditional Greek family and lovely friends, she learned that sharing is the best way to communicate. That’s why she quickly decided that the only thing she craved for her life was to communicate, without forgetting to “hug” anything new coming up during this thrilling process.