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#226 December 2009 February 2010 Sizzling Summer Issue 5www.a r tmon th l y.o rg .au A r t Mon th l y Aus t r a l ia

Out of Nowhere:Contemporary CambodianPhotography

ZHUANG WUBIN

THE MYTHOLOGY THAT CONTEMPORARY Cambodian

photographyhas emerged from nowhere has been frequently

brandished by parachute curators and art writers. A recent

example is found in the catalogue of PhotoPhnomPenh 2008,

a new festival organised by the French Cultural Centre in

Phnom Penh. Christian Caujolle, founder of VU Photo

Agency (Agence VU), writes here that fteen years back,

photography was virtually absent from Phnom Penh,

especially in its cultural and creative dimension. Local

photography was limited to what is called applied

photography, intended for the press or for postcards.1 The

observation is not entirely untrue. However, it ignores the

fact that Cambodian artists in the 1950s and the 60s had

already deliberated over the possible negative inuence of

photography on painting. In fact, many of the painters from

the School of Cambodian Arts would, upon graduation, use

photography to aid their artistic practices.2 As such, it is

premature to dismiss the cultural function of photography

in Cambodia before the 1990s. Like the Vietnamese

government which has truncated the history of Saigon at the

point of reunication in 1975, Caujolle has truncated the

historiography of Cambodian photography at the reign of the

Khmer Rouge (KR) from 1975 to 1979.

The KR had denitely dislocated the development ofarts in Cambodia. However, the photographic

documentations they left behind of their tragic policies,

including the ghastly portraits of the Tuol Sleng prison,

constitute an important part of the countrys visual heritage.

In fact, contemporary photographers like Khvay Samnang

(b. 1982; Svay Rieng Province, Cambodia) have already

referenced these prison mug shots in their works. Featured

in PhotoPhnomPenh, Reminder(2008) is an obvious

example. Working as an art teacher at Chea Sim High

School, some two hours away from Phnom Penh, Khvay was

tasked to take ID photos of the students. When they saw the

portraits, their immediate reaction was that they looked like

prisoners. That gave him the idea for Reminder. The

Cambodian Chinese artist elaborates:

In Phnom Penh, schools dont bring students to the Tuol

Sleng. And we dont teach that much of KR history. Each

year, there is a ceremony to mark the liberation from the KR.

But they never feed you the details. It is always about Pol Pot.

Nevertheless, when young people think of Tuol Sleng, they

will always recall the portraits. As such, there is no need to

replicate the Tuol Sleng portraits in Reminder. This is already

enough to make people feel about the KR history.3

Khvay learnt about the genocide through his parents.

During the KR, his parents lived in their native village near

the Cambodian border. While there was not enough to eat,

the threat of being killed was actually quite low. Since the

liberation, his village has been absorbed into the

geographical boundary of Vietnam.

Visually, Khvays portraits are not unlike ID photos

shot in other countries. However, the burden of Cambodiasrecent history clearly weighs upon the psyche of the younger

generation, however imperfect an idea they may have of the

KR reign. Removed from this context, Reminderloses its

signifying power. Nevertheless, it is an important example of

a younger artist born in the post-KR era articulating their

thoughts on recent Cambodian history, and by using photos

of young Cambodians, Khvay seems to be hypothesising the

choices that they must make in relation to this historical

burden. Can the KR history possibly scar young

Cambodians forever? Are those who ignore the episode

necessarily lesser off? The expressionless portraits in

Reminderprovide no comforting answer.

A graduate in modern painting from the Royal

University of Fine Arts (RUFA) in Phnom Penh, Khvay joinedthe photo workshop run by French photographer Stphane

Janin from September 2006 to June 2007. At that time,

Janin also owned Le Popil Gallery, which featured

exhibitions by Cambodian photographers. Like several of the

workshop participants, Khvays original impetus for learning

photography was to use the medium to aid his work as a

painter. Now, the painter sees photography as an additional

medium to express his ideas.

Kong Vollak (b. 1983; Phnom Penh, Cambodia) also

participated in Janins workshop. A sculpture graduate from

RUFA in 2006, Kong teaches drawing and Khmer art history

in a high school at Svay Rieng Province and earns about

US$30 a month to support his practice as a multi-

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6 #226 December 2009 February 2010 Sizzling Summer Issue www.a r tmon th l y.o rg .au A r t Mon th l y Aus t r a l ia

disciplinary artist. In Night Building(2009), Kong moves

beyond the KR history that Khvay references in Reminder, to

address the urbanisation of Phnom Penh. The rst few

skyscrapers are being constructed across the city and Kong

is ambivalent, hoping that they will be built surrounding thecity centre, so that the history of Phnom Penh can still be

preserved inside the city. Not surprisingly, when

governmental and commercial interests are keener to cut up

and sell off Cambodia, Kongs proposal falls on deaf ears.

Aesthetically, the artist aims to combine his knowledge of

drawing and photography in Night Building.

First, I got onto the tourist boat that would go by the Royal

Palace, so that I could take some pictures of the city at

night. But when I noticed the insects ying around the

lamps on the boat, I decided to photograph their ight. The

patterns allude to human form. After printing the images, I

would then scrape away the print using a nail to create

drawings of these skyscrapers. The work is not about todays

Phnom Penh. It is about Phnom Penh of the future.4

Within the context of Cambodia, Night Buildingis a

departure because Kong has tried to create new linkages

between photography and other mediums. His intervention

on the images moves his work beyond the notion that good

photography equates with high-quality prints and beautiful

aesthetics.

Within his generation of photographers, Vandy

Rattana (b. 1980; Phnom Penh, Cambodia) has been the

rst to emerge on an international level (exhibiting in

Shanghai, Hong Kong and the Netherlands, for instance).

Known primarily as a documentary photographer, Vandys

work stems from a broader, existentialist concern:

What details make us Cambodians? I want to reveal theinternal, to archive Cambodia as much as I can. Its not for

me. We have to tell the world who we are. 5

His rst set of work, Looking In(2005-06), addresses

the issue by directing the viewnder at his mundane

surroundings to counterbalance the clichd perception of

Cambodia as a land of monks and beggars. It is also an

attempt to reconstruct the memory of Cambodia after the

dislocation of genocide and wars. The project actually

comprises two stand-alone series, the rst of which seesVandy studying his family members and the details of his

house using a Yashica FX7 and a 50mm lens (his rst

camera, a gift from a teacher in 2005). In the second series,

Vandy focuses on his colleagues at the telecommunications

company where he worked at that time, following them as

they reported for work, put on make-up, answered calls and

took naps. Behind the unremarkable images ofLooking In

is a cool analysis together with the genuine sense of

excitement and empowerment that Vandy felt when he rst

experimented with photography.

Vandys interest in the medium blossomed almost

naturally, his initial source of imagery coming

predominantly from lms: Vietnamese and Soviet lms by

the late 80s, and Indian lms in the 90s. After receiving his

Yashica, Vandy would meet with Erin Gleeson, an American

specialist on Cambodian contemporary art who spent

several weekends talking to him about the basics of

photography, and who championed his experimentation with

the medium.

In Road(2007), Vandy moves away from the

documentary approach to articulate his ideas in metaphors.

Taking pieces of cardboard, he spontaneously cut out lines

and circles, creating maze-like patterns in the process.

Attaching the cardboard pieces on his door, Vandy

photographed them in the day to create black-and-white

photographic diagrams. Made for the Mekong Art Exchange,

Roadsymbolises the political intrigues between Cambodia

and her Mekong neighbours of Thailand, Vietnam and Laos.

Using circles to represent the countries, the neighbours

appear to be caught up in a game of attrition,6 Vandy ever

mindful of compatriot tensions living under the Vietnamese

in the post-KR era.

2010Sean Bailey, Belle Bassin, Denis Beaubois, Scot Cotterell, JacqueDrinkall, James Eisen, Nathan Gray,Michelle Hanlin, Leigh Hobba,Kate Just, Vernon Ah Kee, Kevin Leong, Alasdair McLuckie, DylanMartorell, Heather & Ivan Morison, John Vellaand more

27 Tasma Street,North Hobart,TAS, 7000

www.castgallery.org

Gallery hours Wed Sun 12 - 5

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#226 December 2009 February 2010 Sizzling Summer Issue 7www.a r tmon th l y.o rg .au A r t Mon th l y Aus t r a l ia

Vandy, Khvay and Kong are also members of Stiev Selepak, which

means Art Rebels in Khmer. Founded in 2007, the collective represents a

paradigm shift in Khmer art, argues Gleeson. Apparently, traditional Khmer

culture favours the ensemble. Working with the masses is the highest calling

for an artist. As such, individual expression, a keystone of contemporary art

practice, stands against that tradition. On one hand, having the collective

allows them to pool resources. On the other hand, they hope to show that

individualistic expression is for the masses, too.7

Since the start of 2009,they have also founded Sa Sa Gallery in Phnom Penh, Cambodias rst artist-

run space.

Heng Ravuth (b. 1985; Phnom Penh, Cambodia) is also a member of

the collective. A classmate of Khvay Samnang at RUFA, Hengs original

motivation for joining Janins workshop was exactly the same as his friend.

Since then, he has been using the medium for his artistic practice, shooting

primarily with a Canon digital compact camera that he bought in 2006. To

support himself, he works as a part-time drawing teacher for kids.

Over the years, Heng has also participated in other workshops, with

that of Magnum photographer Antoine DAgata leaving a particularly strong

impression. He told Heng not to be afraid to show his sense of self in his

photographs. When the audience see my work, I want them to see me in each

image, explains Heng.8 In this sense, his projects privilege personal issues

over social ones.In his work, Heng usually makes many pictures of his chosen model

within a generic space exploring the body with his camera, looking for

answers to obscure mysteries. His own body (a matter of convenience, he

admits) is the subject ofDream(2006-07). In Waiting(2008), he used his

cousin as the model. Again, the choice was generic. He concedes he doesnt

know much about her life. What he wants is to convey a sense of longing in

this work. Apart from asking her not to smile, Heng allowed his cousin to

create the poses. It was a collaborative process.

For Chan Moniroth Chiart (b. 1980; Phnom Penh, Cambodia), who is

not a member of Stiev Selepak, her artistic practice is also collaborative, an

extension of her personal interest in dressing up and taking pictures of her

kids for fun. The late Magnum photographer Philip Jones Grifths used to be

a houseguest of Chan and her New Zealand husband whenever he was in

Phnom Penh. When Chan showed him these domestic snaps in 2006,

Grifths encouraged her to take part in the workshop at the annual Angkor

Photography Festival where she developed her series Cinderella(2006).9

At that time, DAgata was involved in the festival workshop. The

French photographer encouraged Chan to do something related to her family

snaps of kids. In Cinderella, instead of photographing her kids, Chans model

was a street kid selling postcards in Siem Reap. When she is poor and dirty,

people look down on her, explains Chan. When she is clean and dressed up,

our impression changes. My idea is to question the way people make

judgments based merely on appearances.10

Compared to Heng, Chan seems to have found a meeting point

between her domestic snaps, which clearly exist in the personal realm, and the

reality in Cambodia. Unlike much hard-hitting documentary work about

poverty in Cambodia, Cinderelladoes not overwhelm its audience withhelplessness. Instead, it allows viewers the space to reect on their gaze, which

is partly responsible for casting these street kids as poor and useless.

In Simple Fashion(2007), Chans eldest daughter (b. 2000) is the model,

dressed in junk materials that are not meant to be worn. As an extension of

the family pictures she has always taken, Simple Fashionis more private and

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Suzanne ArcherInsecta Botanica Exotica | Kim SpoonerExploring the Flesh |

Peter LancasterLithography| Pamela Vaughan Drawing From the Zoo | David Wills

Photoshop Workshop | Maureen Burns Digital Photography| Kerrie LesterAssemblage

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P 5/ Chan Moniroth Chiart, Untitled, from

Simple Fashion series, 2007.

Image courtesy the artist.

P 6/ Chan Moniroth Chiart, Untitled images from theCinderella series, 2006. Image courtesy the artist.

THIS PAGE: 1/ Heng Ravuth, Untitled, from the

Dream series, 2006-07. Image courtesy the artist.

2/ Kong Vollak, Untitled, from the Night Building

series, 2009. Image courtesy the artist.

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8 #226 December 2009 February 2010 Sizzling Summer Issue www.a r tmon th l y.o rg .au A r t Mon th l y Aus t r a l ia

less imbued by the situation in Cambodia, with Chans

daughter an eager collaborator in the process. Like Vandy

Rattana, Chan sees the need for Cambodian photographersto start telling stories about Cambodia. She explains:

Foreign photographers usually focus on lady-boys and

prostitutes whenever they do stories about Cambodia. These

works are useless to Cambodians. In their modest ways,

Chan and the photographers featured in this article are

trying to counter this disturbing phenomenon. For the

parachute curators though, these photographers must have

emerged out of nowhere. It is a comforting mythology to

have, particularly for those who seek to undermine the

autonomy of Cambodian arts.

Notes

1. Christian Caujolle, PhotoPhnomPenh, exhibition catalogue,

French Cultural Centre, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 2008, p. 7.

2. Ly Daravuth and Ingrid Muan, Cultures of Independence: An

Introduction to Cambodian Arts and Culture in the 1950s and

1960s, Reyum, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 2001, p. 244.

3. Khvay Samnang, interview by author, Phnom Penh,

Cambodia, March 25, 2009.

4. Kong Vollak, interview by author, Phnom Penh, Cambodia,

March 27, 2009.

5. Vandy Rattana, interview by author, Phnom Penh, Cambodia,

December, 2006.

6. Vandy Rattana, interview by author, Phnom Penh, Cambodia,

November, 2007.

7. Erin Gleeson, Sa Sa Gallerys Art Rebels Forge New Creative

Paths, The Phnom Penh Post, Lifestyle section, 19 March, 2009.

8. Heng Ravuth, interview by author, Phnom Penh, Cambodia,

25 March, 2009.

9. Founded in 2005 and based in the tourist town of Siem

Reap, this annual festival is not really geared for Cambodian

artists.

10. Chan Moniroth Chiart, interview by author, Phnom Penh,Cambodia, March 28, 2009.

The author would like to thank Maria Stott from On

Photography Cambodia for offering him a place to stay when he

visited Phnom Penh on March 2009 to interview some of the

photographers featured in this article.

Vandy Rattana is one of several artists from the Mekong

region represented at the sixth Asia Pacic Triennial (APT 6),

along with Bi Cng Khnh, Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba, Pich

Sopheap, Manit Sriwanichpoom, Svay Ken, Tun Win Aung

and Wah Nu: Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 5 December

2009 to 5 April 2010.

Zhuang Wubin is a researcher on contemporary South-EastAsian photography and a documentary photographer.

1 + 2/ Vandy Rattana, Untitled images

from Looking In series, 2005-06.

Image courtesy the artist.

3/ S-21 Prisoner. Image courtesy Tuol Sleng

Genocide Museum/DC-Cam Archives.

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