Rooftop Gallery is proud to present A Dream Surely Vanishing, a compelling work in progress by upcoming American photojournalists Lauren DeCicca and Andre Malerba, centred on everyday life along the Irrawaddy River - in a time when Burma is opening its doors not only to the world, but to the internal changes wrought by industrial development.

1300 miles in length, the Irrawaddy river flows through some of the most economically coveted land in the world. Masked by tourism and so called political reform, under-addressed issues of ethnic and religious violence, environmental disasters, and shady economic expansion are present throughout. And yet, Burma’s true face can still be seen. Quiet and unassuming, the people and landscapes that make this country what it is at heart live on in a harmony that is sure to vanish. A Dream Surely Vanishing encompasses these issues and cultural vignettes through strong documentary images, as a unique journey through Burma.

Lauren DeCicca is a documentary photographer and multimedia producer from New York currently based in Yangon, Burma. Her work has been published by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, TIME, The Washington Post, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, The Guardian, USA Today, Foreign Policy, Al Jazeera, NPR, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), The SE Asia Globe Magazine, The Jakarta Globe, The Cambodia Daily, amongst others. She is a also a contributor to @everydayasia on Instagram.

Andre Malerba is a graduate of the Photojournalism and Documentary Photography program at the International Center of Photography in New York City, a participant at the 25th Eddie Adams Workshop in 2012, and a full scholarship recipient of the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in 2014. His work has been featured by Time Lightbox and published in: Time.com, Al Jazeera, Foreign Policy, The Washington Post, Pro Photographer Magazine, Focus Asean, Chronicle of Higher Education and Myanmar Times, among others. He has also worked with NGOs such as Médecins Sans Frontières and WORTH. His Instagram work has been featured on The New York Times Lens and the New Yorker Photo Instagram feed via Everyday Asia.