Pyinmana, Central Myanmar, is a railway town halfway between Yangon and Mandalay. Between 2015-2018 I documented families living on station platforms, informal economies, and everyday life during the brief period of political reform . After the 2021 coup, these images now mark a world few will see.
The platform on Pyinmana station where people lived. Note the boxes on the left of the frame. This was home to a mother and her two daughters. Pyinmana Station, Central Myanmar, 2017. 
This woman was sleeping on the platform. Pyinmana Station, Central Myanmar, 2017/18. 
This girl was the oldest of the two living on the platform. Her mother asked me to photograph her – she’d never had her picture taken. I printed the images and gave them to her. She saw me coming, I held up the pictures, she snatched them from my hand and ran off to show her family. I like to think I made a child happy. Pyinmana Station, Central Myanmar, 2017. 
After photographing the girl, children appeared whenever they saw me. Note the look in the boy’s eyes. He’s high on betel nut, which they chew. It stains the teeth red and causes throat cancer. Pyinmana Station, Central Myanmar, 2017. 
More local children. Pyinmana Station, Central Myanmar, 2017. 
This man slept rough and lived in this spot. There was many amputees. Pyinmana Station, Central Myanmar, 2017/18. 
This pair were waiting for a train. Note they never get their sandals on the mats. Pyinmana Station, Central Myanmar, 2017. 
A lady selling items to people leaving the train. Pyinmana Station, Central Myanmar, 2017/18. 
A bicycle taxi. Pyinmana Station, Central Myanmar, 2017/18. 
A monk. Pyinmana Station, Central Myanmar, 2017. 
Locals in the station’s waiting room. Pyinmana Station, Central Myanmar, 2017/18. 
A guy booking a ticket. Pyinmana Station, Central Myanmar, 2018. 
The local train. Pyinmana Station, Central Myanmar, 2017.
Lee Russell Wilkes 