A child stands on the mountain of rubbish she calls home at Maesot dumpsite. This dumpsite, just a few kilometres from the Burmese border in Western Thailand, has long been home to a community of Burmese migrants making their living from scavenging the regular flow of rubbish. Photography from Burma/Myanmar © Matt Grace.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi visits Mae La refugee camp, outside Maesot in Thailand, on her first trip outside Burma since 1988. Photography from Burma/Myanmar © Matt Grace.

Eaid Dhi of Burmese hardcore band Married for the Pain has the name of his solo project, Abnormal December, tattooed to his chest by La Paing of punk band The Rebel Riot. Photography from Burma/Myanmar © Matt Grace.

Khin Maung Aye injected heroin for around eight years, during which time his wife left him and he resorted to crime and sleeping rough to maintain his habit before eventually being forced to quit by a three month spell in prison. He has now been clean for seven years and runs his own self-help group which assists people in Moegaung who are trying break their own habit. Photography from Burma/Myanmar © Matt Grace.

Burmese punks at Burma Punx Festival 2011, Rangoon (Yangon). Photography from Burma/Myanmar © Matt Grace.

Novice monks walk past a Russian tourist at a monastery used as a stop-over on the popular trek between Kalaw and Inle Lake. Increased tourism in this strongly Buddhist and culturally traditional country is producing more and more pronounced culture-clashes. Photography from Burma/Myanmar © Matt Grace.

A man walks through the grounds of the Secretariat building in Downtown Rangoon (Yangon). With Rangoon no longer the capital, ex-government buildings across the city are being put out to tender for conversion into hotels to cater for the rising number of tourists. Controversy ensued when it was revealed that the Secretariat building, site of General Aung San's assassination, could become a hotel and it seems that the government has reconsidered, saying it will most likely be made into a museum. Burma received more than 350 000 tourists in 2011 and is woefully ill-equipped to deal with the rise in numbers of more than 25% expected next year. Photography from Burma/Myanmar © Matt Grace.

Heroin caps in the areas surrounding Myitkyina, Kachin State, cost between 12000 and 15000 kyat each (around $15-$20). The area, so close to the fabled 'Golden Triangle', is home to an horrific level of heroin use and addiction. Photography from Burma/Myanmar © Matt Grace.

Burmese punks at Burma Punx Festival 2011, Rangoon (Yangon). Photography from Burma/Myanmar © Matt Grace.

A competitor prepares for a male beauty pageant, organised to mark World AIDS Day, at a drop in centre for HIV and AIDS sufferers in Rangoon (Yangon). Photography from Burma/Myanmar © Matt Grace.

Men in longyis walk past grafitti on Bogyoke Aung San Road, Rangoon (Yangon). A small group of Rangoon youths are becoming bolder in their creation of street art, notably 'One Nation Under Pop' whose tags can be seen across the city and primarily allude to the scarcity of alternative youth culture in the country. Photography from Burma/Myanmar © Matt Grace.

A monk walks past a ferris wheel at Bohtahtaung Pagoda Festival in Downtown Rangoon (Yangon). Photography from Burma/Myanmar © Matt Grace.

A Burmese music fan dances at the ramshackle stage of a hardcore concert at Kandawgyi Lake in Rangoon (Yangon). Photography from Burma/Myanmar © Matt Grace.

Nat-kadaw (spirit dancers) prepare to perform at Taungbyone festival outside Mandalay. Taungbyone is the largest and best known nat-festival, where the Nat-kadaw dance themselves into drunken, trance-like states in order to communicate with the nat spirits. Photography from Burma/Myanmar © Matt Grace.

Children, migrants from Burma, study in their wooden house outside Maesot in western Thailand. Photography from Burma/Myanmar © Matt Grace.

A poster of American singer Rihanna on a street wall in downtown Rangoon (Yangon). Posters and videos of singers like Rihanna, Shakira and Lady Gaga are popular as much for their sexuality as for their music. Burma's conservative society means that overtly sexual dress and behaviour is still uncommon for women and would be considered taboo by many, however, as Yangon's youth gain more access to western music, film and culture it is easy to see a change occurring. The streets of Rangoon are still fairly conservative by international standards but short skirts and revealing tops are now standard dress for Burmese girls in shopping malls and night clubs. Photography from Burma/Myanmar © Matt Grace.

Children play at home in Dun Gam, outside Myitkyina. Dun Gam and the surrounding countryside have a huge prevalence of heroin use, and these children are in one of the highest-risk groups as their father is both an addict and HIV positive. Photography from Burma/Myanmar © Matt Grace.

A Nat-kadaw (spirit dancer) receives the finishing touches to his costume before performing a ceremony at Taungbyone festival outside Mandalay. Taungbyone is the largest and best known nat-festival, where the Nat-kadaw dance themselves into drunken, trance-like states in order to communicate with the nat spirits. Photography from Burma/Myanmar © Matt Grace.

A competitor is prepared for a male beauty pageant, organised to mark World AIDS Day, at a drop in centre for HIV and AIDS sufferers in Rangoon (Yangon). Photography from Burma/Myanmar © Matt Grace.