AsiaLIFE

French-trained artist Lim Theam is hoping to breathe new life into Cambodian handicrafts. In anticipation of his new exhibition, Ellie Dyer visits his Siem Reap studio to see his work first-hand. Photography by Conor Wall.

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The craftsmen and women who work at Theam’s House – a studio set beside a tranquil garden in dusty Siem Reap - fall silent as they delicately paint acrylic egrets onto board and layer lacquer onto a procession of clay elephants.

The level of concentration is palpable. Led by the centre’s founding artist and designer Lim Theam, the skilled workers are not just producing memorable artworks. They are helping to reinvigorate traditional Cambodian handicrafts for a new generation of artisans.

Theam left for France with his family as a youngster and returned in 1994 as a trained artist, following a stint at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts de Paris.

He has since dedicated himself to reinvigorating traditional handicrafts - first by working with well-known group Artisans d’Angkor then striking out on his own.

His journey has not been an easy one. On his return to the Kingdom, a trip made with the aim of “understanding if people still had arts and crafts remaining” in a country torn apart by war, Theam discovered an artisan community in disarray.

“My disappointment was so, so huge … The skills were there, but people needed to feed themselves. They didn’t need to work on this [the arts],” he says.

But as the country opened up and tourists returned, Theam saw a transformation slowly take place.

With visitors flowing in, artisans realised that their skills could again provide an income. Aided by Artisans d'Angkor, an organisation created in 1998 and born out of a rural handicraft school, a thriving support network for working artisans and apprentices emerged around Siem Reap town. It has endured to the present day.

Theam was at the heart of Artisans d’Angkor for more than a decade as its artistic director, until he left to set up his own studio last February, where he aims to “push more and more” for strong artistic values. He hopes to “help people believe in their work” by adding a unique twist to traditional handicrafts produced by communities throughout the country.

The clay elephants he transforms into a riot of colour, for instance, are made in traditional fashion by families in Kampong Chhnang province. The plain brown clay beasts are then transported to Theam’s House to be covered in powdered shell and painted in a rainbow of lacquer – from ochre, to neon pink and gold – and sold to a modern market.

Traditional kramas, woven in a single village in Banteay Meanchey province, are also being reinvented. While some traditional chequers remain, new colours are being introduced to add to standard red, blue and black hues. Stripes and cut-outs now feature in the studio’s scarf collection, with shades of pink, purple and green.

“I thought of how to make these people produce something for the market. We need to readjust dimensions and colour,” says Theam, who believes that modernisation can increase people’s earning potential.

“If you work in a garment factory and work 10-12 hours a day, at the end of the month you may have $75. I think you can make the same [money] by weaving and staying at home. But there are so many people, you can’t help everyone.”

And while helping a generation of craftspeople to reinvent their art, Theam is also working on projects of his own. In his personal studio, striking lacquered artworks in deep reds and golds are set against the soaring blank walls.

Cambodian landmarks, including the S-21 prison and the home of notorious Khmer Rouge cadre Ta Mok, lie in the background with figures – including an image of an elderly nun who Theam saw in a photograph from the Khmer Rouge era – in the foreground.

The artworks, which are set to be displayed this month at the French Institute in Phnom Penh in an exhibition called Aliénation Altérnation, feature Khmer Rouge imagery. But for Theam, they are intended to raise discourse about the people of Cambodia and their separation from the changing backdrop of history.

“I paint the ambiguity,” he says.

And as Theam circles his workshop, helping craftsmen to nuance the work that he has designed, he is handing people the ability to shape their own future with skills that are independent of the tide and turn of politics.

Aliénation Altérnation is on display at the French Institute from Feb. 16 to Mar. 31. Visit theamshouse.com for more information about the artist.

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