In his new exhibition Ratanakiri, photographer Pha Lina blends art, portraiture and political statement to illuminate the vanishing fortunes of hill tribes in the northwest.
In one of the most arresting images, an unsmiling Khmer Loeu man with a jungle stogie poses among the charred remains of a burned-out forest. He holds a sturdy homemade crossbow in one arm and cradles a child-sized monkey in the other. Metres of yellow measuring tape – the kind ubiquitous in garment factories – entangle the trio like spaghetti.
The faces and scenery change in Pha Lina’s other portraits but the tape remains, a suffocating spider web of foreign numbers and vague symbolism. If the exact nature of the metaphor is elusive, its tenor is not.
Ratanakiri is one of more than two dozen exhibitions that comprise the Photo Phnom Penh festival, which opens November 30 and runs through the end of the year.
Currated by world-renowned photographer and picture editor Christian Caujolle, the festival’s intent has always been to make photography accessible to everyday people (Caujolle began his career as a photo critic working for Jean-Paul Sarte at Liberation in the late 1970s; he later founded the award-winning Agence VU photo agency). As Caujolle has explained in the past, that means getting images out of the galleries and into the streets.
The festival will hold eight outdoor exhibits in six locations this year. The venues include the French Embassy, Sisowath Quay, Wat Phnom, the Delegation of the European Union, Central Market and Wat Botum.
“We have not chosen a central theme,” writes Caujolle in the festival’s guide. “But, as sometimes happens, a central idea emerges, one which corresponds to a necessity of the present moment. It designs itself: it may concern the exploration of the city, the heritage that has been conserved, the notion of ruin, the obvious conflicts or contradictions which are apparent in the exploitation of the city and its memories.”
If there is a concept that embodies 2013’s exhibition list, it is one of cultural change and reflection.
In Dialogue & Demolition, Chinese artist and iconoclast Zhang Dali carves his profile into the walls of buildings slated for demolition. The display serves as a small act of defiance against China’s moneyed interests and their culturally dismissive march toward development. “These destructions,” he says, “will make future generations lose their cultural memory and they cannot be exchanged for money.”
In North Korea, Swiss photographer Adrien Golinelli takes viewers on a guided tour of the pariah state. In colourful scenes of propaganda and contrived faces of normality, we view glimpses of the veil that hides a nation in peril. “I’ve used what they showed me to show what they tried to hide from me,” Golinelli explains.
As usual, the festival introduces us to a new class of local shutterbugs. Chuon Nyra explores concepts of time back when the country had no clocks, watches or hand phones. Vong Sopheak, a painter and photographer, takes an introspective look at the working life of the painter. Sun Vanndy tags along with the child jasmine sellers who work the city’s crossroads.
The veterans are there too: Mak Remissa, Sovan Philong, Pha Lina.
The festival kicks off with a flurry of activity during opening week. On opening weekend, a cavalcade of free tuk tuks will ferry festivalgoers across the city, touring the indoor exhibits on Saturday and the outdoor ones on Sunday. The Sunday tour finishes with a group screening at the old Catholic church. Tours leave from the French Institute at 2pm both days.
A screening on December 2 at the Royal University of Phnom Penh will include live music by the Phare Ponleu Selpak band. At the opening-week finale on December 4, screenings will include a compendium of pictures from five years of Studio Images, the French Institute’s photography training programme headed by Christian Caujolle.
HIGHLIGHTS
Micheline Dullin, Cambodge
Sisowath Quay
French photographer Micheline Dullin worked in Cambodia from 1958 until 1964. For a while she was Norodom Sihanouk’s official photographer and the job allowed her access to places few others could visit. Her images include aerial shots of Phnom Penh, Olympic Stadium under construction and captivating portraits of faces from the past.
Gabriel Veyre, Indochine & Angkor
Bophana Centre, #64 Street 200
On assignment in 1899 for Paul Doumer, the governor of Indochina, Gabriel Veyre spent a year travelling and photographing Indochina, including long stints at Angkor Wat, for an exhibition at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1900.
Adrien Golinelli, North Korea
Royal University of Phnom Penh, Russian Federation Boulevard
Swiss photographer Adrien Golinelli visited North Korea in 2012 with an official tourist group. The country he reveals is both contrived and authentic with hints of real life hidden in state-approved scenery.
Foreign Familiar
Royal University of Fine Arts, Street 178
Foreign Familiar comprises the work of nine photographers, all long-term expatriates based in Asia. Their perceptions of their environment, says the festival guide, are ‘neither naïve, as a newcomer might be, or blasé, as might be that of someone who was born in these countries’.
Toy Monireth, Colour of Silk
Plantation Hotel, Street 184
Toy Monireth’s Colour Of Silk series captures silk up close. It revels in its colours, textures and patterns. “Every colour and every fabric fibre is like a community, like a human being, with its different properties,” he says. “And one has to find a good way to bring all together.” Toy Monireth does so with exceptional beauty.
Lim Mengkong, Pre-Wedding
Java Café, #56 Sihanouk Boulevard
In Pre-Wedding, Cambodian photographer Lim Mengkong revisits a genre of photography notorious for its kitsch. Romantic yet fun and quirky, Lim uses unconventional props and locations to capture couples in less ordinary poses. In doing so, he provokes us to re-evaluate traditional views of what love should look like.
Mak Remissa, Flamed Forest
Wat Botum, Street 7
Among the country’s greatest artistic photographers, Mak Remissa continues to explore environmental themes. This time, he juxtaposes forest life with fire, a metaphor for man’s ongoing destruction of nature.
Maika Elan, The Pink Choice
Romeet Gallery, Street 178
In The Pink Choice, Vietnamese photographer Maika Elan explores homosexuality in Vietnam. She attempts to break through stereotypes by documenting couples from all social classes in typical yet intimate scenes.
WHO: The curious
WHAT: Photo Phnom Penh
WHEN: November 30 – December 31
WHERE: Across Phnom Penh
WHY: Shutterbugs doing what they do best