AsiaLIFE

Battambang’s art scene is on the rise. With contemporary shows attracting international attention and a Phnom Penh gallery dedicated to showcasing work from the town, Ellie Dyer and Michael Sloan meet some of those working at its heart. Photographs by Conor Wall.

The sleepy province of Battambang is perhaps best known by many for its reputation as the Kingdom’s “rice bowl” and the somewhat notorious bamboo train, but the area’s emerging art scene is increasingly attracting attention.

Young artists hailing from the city are experimenting with contemporary techniques. Many have been trained by Phare Ponleu Selpak, which translates as The Brightness of the Sun. Founded by Battambang native Khuon Det and a group of fellow artists who met in refugee camps on the Thai border, the group has built up a reputation as one of Cambodia’s premier art schools and has trained more than 1,600 students in painting, sculpture and circus arts since it first opened in 1994.

“It’s a unique situation. A lot of students at Phare Ponleu have come from disadvantaged backgrounds: they have a different kind of experience which affects what work they want to produce. There’s a difference between their work and certain styles from Phnom Penh,” says Kate O’Hara, manager of the capital’s Romeet gallery on Street 178. The gallery, which opened in October, is backed by the school and intended as a venue to show the work of its current and former students to as wide an audience as possible.

One such artist is Hour Seyha whose first solo show 'Waiting for Sunrise' is on display at Romeet until Jan. 15.

Cutting a diminutive figure, the 21-year-old’s wide smile belies his troubled past. Born into a poor family, he worked as a child labourer in Thailand in order to support his relatives. He hauled logs on rubber plantations and picked pineapples to make ends meet and at one point escaped arrest after unwittingly becoming an illegal worker.

“I was so scared,” he says. “There were so many other Cambodian children working there as flower sellers or begging for money on the street.”

On his return to Cambodia as an unaccompanied and homesick 15-year-old, he was picked up at the Poipet border and later taken to an orphanage. Eventually, he started classes at Phare Ponleu Selpak. “One of my teachers inspired me through his work”, says Seyha. “It’s an opportunity for me to express and exhibit my thoughts.”

His highly emotive paintings – in muted yellows, reds and blues - are packed full of symbols of his time abroad. Footprints represent wounds, flip-flops symbolise slavery while the colour red expresses fear in his artworks, which have titles such as 'Hunger' and 'Struggle'.

Seyha started work on the series about two years ago after painting 'My Mother is Sick', which shows an out of focus figure overlaid by red and blue. When his mother had fallen ill, his father asked for money to help her – but Seyha had none. Overwhelmed with emotion, he “took out a brush and started painting”.

“That night I was very anxious and overwhelmed … when I see this painting it provides me with a lot of courage,” he says. “I want to explain and make people understand about the issues in society.”

He is also hopeful about a new generation of artists leading the way on the modern art scene. “It is time to start - and for this generation to express themselves,” he says.

“The Cambodia art scene right now is really active, there’s a lot of international interest and that’s focused in Phnom Penh. Romeet is intended as a launching pad for artists from Battambang in the city and as a venue that helps connect their work to international audiences,” adds O’Hara.

As well as funding from Phare Ponleu Selpak, the gallery’s main sponsors include hotels, travel companies and Phnom Penh Airport - all of which signed on to support Romeet with a eye to attracting more international art lovers to Phnom Penh. “The goal is to bring the art to the audience. For instance this year we’re planning on having an exhibition at the airport in early 2012, which is neat for us," says O'Hara.

Several former Phare Ponleu Selpak students have also started their own galleries, including Sammaki Art Space which opened in Battambang in March and the Make Maek Arts Space.

With Romeet’s 2012 schedule packed full of shows, O’Hara says she’s looking forward to the year ahead. “It’s all new to me, getting to meet young creative artists in a place I haven’t been to before. It’s challenging, and that’s what you want,” she says.