AsiaLIFE

Two sisters in contrasting ways are starting to make waves on the Cambodian contemporary art scene. Mark Jackson talks to Veasna and Kanitha Tith at the Chinese House.

“Whatever you want to do, do it now. Don’t wait until tomorrow because the chance might be gone.” Young Khmer artist Kanitha Kith, 22, is standing beside her model of Boeung Kak Lake, recently exhibited at the Bophana Audiovisual Resource Centre as part of the exhibition ‘Still Waters’. She is giving advice to her peers, although she could equally be describing the lake that is the subject of her installation.

Searching the internet, Kanitha came across a satellite image of the disputed lake. “It looked like the heart of Phnom Penh,” she explains. The floating installation in the shape of a heart is made from bamboo. The artist has strewn morning glory over it. Various coloured balloons dangle from its rim. “I want to show them how many lakes in Phnom Penh are already filled in.” Each balloon represents a former lake.

Bridging the Artist and Society

Although the advice comes from Kanitha, it is elder sister, Veasna Tith, 25, who is actively trying to develop the fledgling contemporary art scene in Cambodia, through curation. Upon graduating from the Royal University of Fine Arts (RUFA) Veasna first became interested in curation while on the Mekong Art and Culture Project, which involved the four Mekong sub-region countries. She took a workshop in curation at the end of 2007. “I had never heard about curators before,” she says.

Most Cambodians have never heard of the term, according to Veasna. This is part of a general disconnect between artists and society. “Society doesn’t really understand artists, and the artist doesn’t care about society,” she says. “They only care about doing what they want.” She sees her role as acting as a bridge between society and the artist. As a curator she thinks more about how people will view the art than she ever did as an artist.

Prior to Veasna, art curation was very much a preserve of foreign artists and art enthusiasts. While praising the work of foreign curators such as Dana Langlois at Java Gallery and Nico Mesterharm at Meta House, who have done much to promote contemporary art in the kingdom, she sees herself as being closer to the artists. “There are lots of foreign curators, but I understand local artists more than them,” she says. “They are talented, but if nobody promotes them, how can they show their talent.”

Although Veasna does not have her own website she uses Linda Saphan’s website (http://saphan.info/other-artists/) to help promote local artists, in addition to arranging exhibitions. The next will be at the Chinese House involving the 2008 crop of graduates from RUFA, although a time has yet to be set. She is putting together an exhibition with Brad Gordon, one of the partners in the Chinese House. Brad also has a gallery in Thailand. “I really enjoy working with him.”

Freedom through Art

While Veasna prefers to work in mixed media – next year she will study textiles as part of her masters in fine art in China – her younger sister prefers to work with installations, like the one of Boeung Kak Lake. “I want to show people a different way to art, not just painting and sculpture,” she says. “We have many different kinds of art in the world. I want to show them what installation means and how I feel with my art.” Although graduating last year in interior design from RUFA, Kanitha is now committed to being an artist. “Art makes me feel free, because I always have many ideas and I don’t know how to let my ideas out,” she says. She believes that in Cambodia there is little room for creativity in interior design companies – you just follow instructions. “Only art can let me show the ideas that I want to show people.”

Although this promising young artist is due to have an exhibition with Chinese artist Qudy Xu at Hotel de la Paix in Siem Reap in August, her feet are very much firmly on the ground. “I am still learning a lot,” she says smiling when asked whether she wants to follow her sister’s footsteps into the world of curation.

Not so her elder sister. When Veasna returns from China she wants to use the skills developed there to teach the next crop of RUFA students in textiles. For her, art is a quintessential part of the future development of the country. “If the culture and art develops, the country also develops,” she says. “It’s a very good thing to promote and create something for the next generation.” You sense that this confident, young woman will be very much at the heart of the country’s contemporary art scene, long after the lake that has provided inspiration to her sister has become a developer’s gold mine.