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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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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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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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