AN award-winning North-East photographer, who has dedicated his career to documenting the plight of the Burmese people, says he is more optimistic than ever that the troubled state is ready for change.

Dean Chapman, from Newcastle, has been visiting refugee camps on the country's Thai and Chinese borders for nearly 20 years.

He spent two years living in Burma and has been back and forth more than 30 times to follow the story of the Karenni people - one of the country's many persecuted ethnic minority groups.

Last week, thousands of Buddhist monks took to the streets of Rangoon to call for the ruling military junta to step down.

Despite the ruthless army's crackdown - which led to as many as 200 deaths - Mr Dean senses a change for the positive could soon happen.

"I am more optimistic now than I have been," he said.

"There may have been a clampdown, but people will now feel emboldened because of the sheer number of people who took part this time."

The 42-year-old first spent time with the Karenni on the Thai border in 1990 and was immediately affected by their plight. The photographs he took over the next few years later won him the European Publishers' Award for Photography. Extracts from the collection are now on display at Darlington Arts Centre.

"When I first went out, there were 5,000 Karenni refugees. Now there are more than 27,000, and that is only people from one ethnic group," he said.

"The last time I was in Rangoon, I noticed there was a lot more poverty. Even though the military tries to keep tourists away from certain areas, you can see that people are hungrier, and there is more forced labour than before.

"Last week, the army were shooting, beating and 'disappearing' people in the streets of Rangoon, but that is what happens in the ethnic minority areas all the time.

"They have been doing these things for decades."

Eighteen months ago, Mr Chapman got into Burma by illegally crossing the border from Thailand, but he has put on hold plans to return to the country following the recent birth of his two sons.

"I have two nine-month-old babies to look after now, so I won't be able to do anything stupid for a while," he said.

Burma - What Human Rights? is on display at Darlington Arts Centre, Vane Terrace, Darlington, until November 17. For more information, call 01325-488139, or visit www.mediaworkshop. org.uk