PHOTOGRAPHY asian art 7

JUNE 2010

THERE IS PROBABLY no other THERE IS PROBABLY no other THERE IS PROBABLYepisode in modern Southeast Asian history that has been so tragically photographed than the reign of the Democratic Kampuchea (DK) from 1975 to 1979. From the portraits of Tuol Sleng, otherwise known as the S-21 prison of the Khmer Rouge Rouge R(KR), we get a sense of the shock and R), we get a sense of the shock and Rbewilderment that the Cambodians must have felt under the regime. !is article is a survey of three senior Cambodian photographers.

Although the development of Although the development of Aphotography is not specifically addressed in Cultures of Independence: An Introduction to Cambodian Arts and Culture in the 1950s and 1960s, it is not hard to detect an innovative spirit amongst the Cambodian artists of that era. Filmmaker Ly Ly L Bun Yim (b. 1942) recalls adapting a toilet bowl of shiny porcelain into an enlarger for the photographs that he took of the Kompong Cham landscapes, which were in great demand from foreign and local tourists. Over at the School of Cambodian Arts, which would Arts, which would Abecome the Royal Royal R University of Fine Arts (Arts (A RUFAFAF ) in 1965, the arrival of Japanese painter Suzuki by 1948 heralded the emergence of modern Cambodian painters like Nhek Dim and Sam Kem Chang, many of whom were his students. Interestingly, the Japanese teacher seemed to have a very hostile attitude against the medium of photography. Artist Artist A Pen Tra (b. Pen Tra (b. P1931), a student of Suzuki, explains: He [Suzuki] said it [photography] wasn’t true. It was not ‘natural’. He said that the photograph was like a mirror which absorbed everything. It pulled everything in so that you saw everything clearly… For him, even a really good photograph, people would look at it for a minute and then it was over. !ey would not look at it again.

And yet, the Tuol Sleng portraits seem perpetually etched in our conscience. !ey are probably the most widely seen and mentally poignant photographs ever made by any Cambodian photographer. In this sense, all the photographers profiled in this essay live in the shadows of these portraits.

With these confounding thoughts in mind, we start our account of the first-generation of Cambodian photographers to have emerged at the end of the Vietnamese occupation in 1990. Special attention is given to

the personal practices of these three photographers. !e most senior of them is Heng Sinith (b. 1964; Prek Prek PTakauv Village, Kandal Province, Province, PCambodia).

His personal experience of the regime makes a fascinating read and shows that it is not necessarily accurate to lump all the KR comrades R comrades Rinto one murderous whole. Because Heng’s father had carpentry skills, most of his family members were not relocated from their village in Kandal. !roughout the regime, his village was administered by di"erent groups of KR comrades and at least two of R comrades and at least two of Rthe groups were found to be kind and respectful. Unfortunately, his father

would pass away from exhaustion in 1979. Heng, which means ‘lucky’ in both Teochew dialect and Khmer language, was actually his father’s name. After he passed away, Heng Sinith adopted it as his family name in memory of his father.

After graduating from the village school in 1981, Heng studied theatre and scripting at RUFAFAF from 1984 A from 1984 Ato 1988. It was really a waste of time because they had no books. !e students had to scout for books. When they found one, they would copy the entire book, so that their classmates could share it. In Heng’s case, one of the reasons for joining the university was to escape conscription from the Vietnamese army. When Vietnam ‘liberated’ Cambodia in 1979, Heng’s family said to him: ‘!e ship is still the same, although the man at the steering wheel has changed’. It is true that they now had more food to eat but the situation was still dire, Heng explains. To move from one commune to another, the Cambodians still required permits from the Vietnamese. !ey did not kill the Cambodians per se, but they sent them to heavily mined areas to clear the jungles. A lot of A lot of ACambodians inevitably perished.

After graduation, he worked as a coolie for several years before saving enough to get married in 1990. In 1993, he bought a Praktica camera Praktica camera Pwith a 50mm lens from a friend for US$150. Heng asked his friend to teach him how to load the negatives and take pictures. !at was how he started his photographic career, taking pictures of local tourists in front of

Photography in the Post-Khmer Rouge EraBy Zhuang WubinBy Zhuang WubinBy

Chhim Theang, Male, 18-years-old (1977) Joined the [Khmer Rouge] Revolution: 16 April 1974. Position: Group Leader.Theang and Nim images courtesy of Heng Sinith and DC-Cam Continued on page 8

Water Bubble, Bokor Mountain, from Impressionistic Photography. Image courtesy of Chan Vitharin

Chhim Theang, 43 years old (2002).Theang is seen making a fish basket with his wife (background) in his house at Kampong Chhnang, some 100km west of Phnom Penh, in July 2002

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the Royal Royal R Palace in Phnom Penh. Penh. P At At Athe end of that year, without knowing how to conduct an interview, Heng was employed as a journalist and photographer for a local newspaper. !e editor said to him, ‘Well, at least your description of events is good!’ In 1997, Heng became a professional photojournalist. Over the years, his work has been published in Time, Newsweek and Newsweek and Newsweek New York Times, amongst others. He is now an Associated Press (Press (P AP) photographer in Cambodia.

A few years back, A few years back, A Heng Sinith created a simple and powerful project that added to our understanding of the KR regime. R regime. R Entitled !e Victims of History: Voices of the Khmer Rouge Victims and Perpetrators (2002), it was funded privately by several ambassadors in Cambodia and supported by the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam), an NGO dedicated to the research and documentation of crimes committed by the KR. ‘During the reign of Pol Pol P Pot, whenever we saw Pot, whenever we saw Pthe young KR cadres in the fields, R cadres in the fields, Rthey always looked so clean and tidy. However, we were not allowed to look at their faces directly. !ey were more powerful than kings,’ recalls Heng.

For this photographic project, Heng would reprint the portraits of these mid- and low-level KR comrades, R comrades, Rwhich were then kept at Tuol Sleng and are now part of DC-Cam’s archive. Using the info collected by DC-Cam researchers, Heng would track the cadres down and document their daily lives. He explains: ‘I do not want to show the history of their murders, but their lives as spouses and villagers’. Many of these cadres are now very poor, living at the edge of far-flung villages. !eir lives are in sharp contrast against the ex-KRcadres who are now in the ruling government. !eir neighbours may not do anything against them but they live very much in fear. Naturally, they were reluctant to have their pictures taken, although they were friendly with Heng. On his part, Heng would spend time with the cadres – working in the fields and having lunch together. He would tell them the rationale of his project: ‘I am a young man who does not understand much about the KR. You work directly under the boss. !at You work directly under the boss. !at Yis why I have come to talk to you’.

Slowly but surely, Heng gained their trust and the project took shape. Exhibited at the Tuol Exhibited at the Tuol E Sleng in 2002, the project o"ers a redeeming light into a brutal episode in Cambodian history. It is ludicrous to suggest that Heng’s work normalises the cruelty of the KR. Instead, it warns us against the tendency of over-simplifying the KR history. R history. R Heng’s concern finds support in the work of researchers Meng-Try Ea and Sorya Sim. In an essay entitled Victims and Perpetrators? !e Testimony of Young Young YComrades at S-21, they argue: !e guards, interrogators and other sta" at the infamous KR S-21 prison, are almost always depicted as heinous perpetrators of the Cambodian genocide. But it is rarely recalled that many, perhaps most, of these KRcadres were in fact children. !ey were deprived of their innocence and thrust into a world that none of them could have imagined, and few would have chosen. According to the researchers, many of the young comrades of S-21 ‘became slaves to a revolution they could not escape’, enduring horrible conditions and bearing physical and ‘psychological scars from which they will never recover’. In this way, they ‘fell victim to the KR revolution’.R revolution’.R

!e contextual depth of Heng’s work becomes even more evident when compared to Cambodia: Splendor and Darkness (1996-1998), an attempt

by widely acclaimed Viet Kieu (or ‘Overseas’ Vietnamese) artist Dinh Q. Lê to address the KR history. R history. RUsing his signature photo-weaving technique, Lê combined images of the Angkor bas-relief and the Tuol Sleng portraits into a tapestry of Cambodian history. On a conceptual level, the work actually reinforces the perception of homogeneity within the KR. More troubling is the suggestion that there is some form of quasi-historical linkage between the Angkor era and the KR reign, even though R reign, even though Rinscriptions and documents on Cambodian a"airs between Chinese envoy Zhou Daguan’s visit at the end of 13th century and Gaspar da Cruz’s missionary excursions in 1556 remain thin.

Seen in this light, Heng Sinith’s project provides a modest yet honest perspective on the KR history. R history. RUnlike Heng, Mak Remissa (b. 1968; Remissa (b. 1968; RPhnom Penh, Cambodia) has had Penh, Cambodia) has had Pthe opportunity in 1993 to study photography at RUFAFAF in a French-A in a French-Afunded degree programme initiated by Arts Cambodge Arts Cambodge A Association. During the DK years, Mak’s family moved back to his father’s village at Kampot, Southwest Cambodia, thinking that it would be safer. As a teacher, his father was subsequently killed by Mak’s cousin, who was then the village chief. ‘I had no choice. If I didn’t kill him, they [the KR] would have killed R] would have killed Rme’, his cousin replied when Mak confronted him.

After completing his secondary school in Kampot, Mak moved back to Phnom Penh because there was not Penh because there was not Pany high school teacher in the province. By targeting intellectuals, the KRregime had left the country’s education system in tatters. Back in the capital, RUFAFAF was starting its enrolment A was starting its enrolment Aagain. Without even finishing his high school, Mak embarked on his BA in BA in BApainting at RUFAFAF in 1985. Despite A in 1985. Despite Aknowing nothing about the medium, he joined the three-year photography programme in 1993 just to learn an extra skill. !e class started with 21 students. Only five took the final exam. Some dropped out because they had joined the programme for fun. Others gave up after struggling with the course.

At that time, the At that time, the A Arts Cambodge Arts Cambodge AAssociation had bought around 500 books for RUFAFAF . !ierry Diwo, his French photography teacher, would guide Mak and his friends through the books. Graduating in 1995, he was subsequently sent by Diwo to work as a photojournalist for local French newspapers Cambodge Soir and Le Mekong. Mak’s photographic career was thrust upon him. ‘While I was trained as a photographer, I had no idea what it was to be a photojournalist’, recalls Mak, whose mother is Cambodian Chinese. ‘I merely followed the editors’ instructions and took whatever they wanted’. By then, the photography programme had run out of money, but RUFAFAF still had the A still had the Aequipment. Mak’s teacher had also left him some money to buy negatives. In 1995, he persisted in transferring his knowledge to another six RUFAFAFstudents, meeting them at the end of the day in school. One of them has since become a photojournalist.

In 1997, Mak started working as a stringer for Reuters, even though his Reuters, even though his REnglish then was very poor. In any case, he wanted to improve himself. His friends at Reuters helped him Reuters helped him Rfill up the application form for a one-month fellowship in Bangkok to study photojournalism. He remembers: ‘Even though Even though E I could not fully understand what the teachers said, Itried to get a sense of the proceedings’. In 2000, he had another opportunity to participate in a Paris workshop organised by VUorganised by VUorganised by V photo agency. U photo agency. U

Right up till 2006, Mak continued Right up till 2006, Mak continued Rworking as a freelance photographer for NGOs, ad agencies and editorial clients. He subsequently joined the European Pressphoto Pressphoto P Agency (Agency (A EPA) as a fulltime photographer. By then, he had enough of the uncertainties of working as a freelancer. ‘Aof working as a freelancer. ‘Aof working as a freelancer. ‘ t that At that Atime, Cambodian papers were paying anything from US$15 to US$25 for one-time usage of an image,’ explains Mak. ‘AMak. ‘AMak. ‘ nd when the NGOs had assignments, they would pay me US$100 a day, instead of the day-rate of US$300 that they would pay a foreigner. As a Cambodian, I was cheaper’.

Before joining the agency, Mak

made When the Water Rises, the Fish Eats the Ant; When the Water Recedes, the Ant Eats the Fish (2005), which is the Ant Eats the Fish (2005), which is the Ant Eats the Fishbased on an ancient Khmer proverb that remains popular today. On a literal level, the proverb relates to the fact that while ants and fish take turns to dominate each other according to the physical environments that they find themselves in, neither species will be able to emerge as the winner in the long run. !e equilibrium of nature will be preserved. In terms of politics though, this zero-sum endgame is clearly more violent. A believer A believer Athat art should mirror society, Mak wanted a way to express his anxieties about Cambodia in the post-DK era. !e proverb provided the metaphor. Photography provided the language. ‘In Cambodia, if you say something directly, people will become defensive,’ adds the photographer. ‘!ey will ask, ‘Who are you to say so? Are you Are you AGod?’ On the other hand, if I use photography, people will accept my message with a smile’.

!e project is a marked departure from his routine of press photography, which is typically straightforward. Shot in Kandal Province where Province where Phe spent his childhood years, Mak hopes to fascinate his viewers with the possibility of seeing up-close something so small. Strong colours and unusual compositions accentuate the viewing experience. But his message remains no less significant: ‘Today, we struggle to main our status at work and at home. We strive to rise in power at every opportunity, but it is always done at the expense of others. Status and power are the ultimate goals. However, unlike animals, we have a choice and hopefully we can make a di"erence’.

Even though its concerns are Even though its concerns are Ecurrent, the work is very much rooted in Mak’s memory of the KR regime. R regime. RArticulating the Khmer proverb in Articulating the Khmer proverb in Aphotography appears to be a more sincere attempt to ‘localise’ the medium than China artists replicating traditional ink paintings in Photoshop. Unfortunately, since his brief foray into conceptual photography, Mak has been bogged down by his EPA work. EPA work. EPA He remains ambivalent about the attempt, saying that the work brought him a lot of publicity but provided nothing for his family. Within the context of post-KR Cambodia, Mak is probably ahead R Cambodia, Mak is probably ahead Rof his times.

Alongside Mak, Chan Vitharin Alongside Mak, Chan Vitharin A(b. 1975; Phnom Penh, Cambodia) Penh, Cambodia) Pis another photographer who has emerged from the first group of students who did photography at RUFAFAF . Much younger than Mak and Heng, it is almost impossible to detect the scars of the KR regime in his R regime in his Rpersonal photographic work. While the KR and the subsequent Vietnamese R and the subsequent Vietnamese Roccupation had led to the destruction of the transportation infrastructure in Cambodia, the issue was kept very much in the background of Chan’s Transportation (2002). Instead, it is more likely that this documentary project is motivated by a longing ‘to travel and to see di"erent cultures’. !e various means of transport captured in the series provide a unifying theme to an otherwise disparate travelogue. In Impressionistic Photography (2004), Impressionistic Photography (2004), Impressionistic PhotographyChan tries to find a converging point for his artistic practice as a painter and a photographer. Instead of relying on Photoshop manipulation, Chan falls back on the methodology already employed by some pictorial photographers – an intense fascination with façade and surfaces.

‘When I first studied photography, Iwanted to use it to help my painting,’ recalls Chan, in a complete reversal of the position held by Suzuki in the 50s. ‘Now, I treat it as an artistic medium.

People usually think that photography People usually think that photography Pcan only present the reality while you can do anything you want in painting. But who says photography cannot alter the reality? A lot of my ideas in A lot of my ideas in Aphotography are related to the history of painting.’

Chan’s father, brother and cousin worked as painters for political and advertising posters in the 1980s, which was why by the mid-80s, the family already had quite a few art books at home. !ey also had Russian Russian Rcommunist magazines in French, which actually used a lot of photography. As a painter, Chan Vitharin is drawn to the Russian artists. Russian artists. R He also likes some paintings from Van Gogh and Picasso, especially those that adopt the ‘Russian’ visual language. Russian’ visual language. R Around Around A1992, his father bought a Praktica Praktica Pcamera, which they used to take family portraits at the landmarks of Phnom Penh. Penh. P His teacher gave him a Nikon FM2 in 1993 for his coursework and told him to give the camera to someone else upon graduation.

Graduating from RUFAFAF a year A a year Aafter Mak, Chan worked as a photojournalist, doing a lot of singles and short essays for publications in Cambodia. In 2003, he did a one-year course at the National Superior School of Photography in Arles, Arles, ASouth France. Strangely though, the hegemonic influence of that school left almost no visual or stylistic imprint in Chan’s subsequent work. On the other hand, there are some Asian artists who have graduated from the same school and have since adopted the ‘Aand have since adopted the ‘Aand have since adopted the ‘ rles Arles Astyle’ of photography. In Chan’s case, his resistance is probably due to his initial background as a painter and his general knowledge of art history.

Nowadays, he uses photography for his artistic practice, although he does take on occasional commissions with cultural organisations like Reyum, a Reyum, a Rlocal NGO dedicated to Cambodian arts and culture. For the last 10 years, Chan has also taught photography and painting at RUFAFAF . Photography is a minor for students who do painting or sculpture under the Faculty of Plastic Arts. Arts. A Although there is an increasing Although there is an increasing Ainterest in photography, RUFAFAF has A has Aactually cut back on the photographic minor. A few years back, students A few years back, students Adoing the photographic minor could still spend two hours a week on the subject. In 2009, the minor has been removed from the curriculum. !is is a far cry from 1993 when Chan and Mak Remissa would spend three days Remissa would spend three days Ra week studying photography. !e cutback today is down to a lack of funding. In fact, the number of classes in RUFAFAF has also been reduced, adds A has also been reduced, adds AChan Vitharin.

Without RUFAFAF as a platform, there A as a platform, there Ais little that Chan can achieve as an educator. He can work with the foreign organisations in Cambodia that promote photography. However, a few of them take a ‘I know better than you’ attitude, which cannot be beneficial to the development of Cambodian photography on the long run. In any case, any photographic programme in Cambodia has to involve, in some way or another, the experiences of these three photographers. !e problem is that Heng Sinith and Mak Remissa Remissa Rare kept extremely busy by their work as wire photographers. Given the fact that these agencies are unlikely to employ more photographers in Cambodia since it is not as newsworthy as Iraq, whatever Heng or Mak does has to come from sacrificing their time with family members. Nevertheless, what these three photographers have done within their modest means has already paved the way for the younger generation of Cambodian photographers, including Vandy Rattana and Khvay Samnang.

Soam Nim, Female, 28-years-old (1975). Joined the [Khmer Rouge] Revolution: 15 May 1974 . Position: Group Leader. Home Village: Prek Thmei Sub-district, District 18, Region 25, Kandal Province

Soam Nim, 55 years old (2002). ‘In 1974, they [the Khmer Rouge] began recruiting for the military. I volunteered to join them, because I thought it was better than being a normal citizen who was subjected to intense labour like constructing dikes and dams. I would also have better food. My father did not want me to do so, but I was determined, for I did not want to be looked down. My father had been a very strong man, but on the day I departed, he cried. The Khmer Rouge destroyed my family.’