Michigan museum reveals complex legacy of Cambodian art

Nachik Chachani first visited Angkor Wat six years ago, and the architectural historian was inspired to think about the relationship between the modern sophistication of post-genocide Cambodia and the ancient temple complex.

Chanchani, an associate professor of art history at the University of Michigan, constantly thinks about Angkor Wat, comparing the temple complex to the art created since the Khmer Rouge killed nearly 2 million Cambodians between 1975 and 1979.

“I think both Cambodia’s long history and its recent art can teach us how to maintain stability and find a way forward,” he told VOA’s Khmer Service via Zoom, as his thoughts took shape amid the suffering, anxiety and fear around the world during the pandemic.

The University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA), one of the largest university museums in the United States, is currently hosting an exhibition in Ann Arbor guest-curated by Chanchani featuring 80 Cambodian artworks. The exhibition, titled “Angkor Wat: Cultural Heritage and Post-Genocide Memory in Cambodia,” opened on February 3 and will run through July 28. Works by renowned artists living in Cambodia and the United States, including Vann Nath, Sopheap Pich, Svay Sareth, Amy Lee Sanford and Leang Seckon, are on display.

The Angkor Archaeological Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site covering more than 400 square kilometres (155 square miles), was once a city of nearly a million people and is home to some of Cambodia’s most famous buildings, including those made famous worldwide by films such as Tomb Raider and In the Mood for Love.

By playing with dictionary meanings of “complex,” such as “a whole composed of complicated or interconnected parts,” “a building or group of buildings housing related units,” or “a set of repressed desires and memories that exerts a dominant influence on the personality,” Chanchani sees how the exhibition “makes us think about these different layers, these different types of ideas of complexity.”

Today, “Cambodians view Angkor Wat as a sacred centre, a national symbol and a place of memory,” the exhibition guide says.

“Like the bullet-riddled walls of Angkor Wat, contemporary artworks from Cambodia and its diaspora bear the scars of the genocide and related unrest,” Chanchani said, adding that as a non-Cambodian outsider he was aware of the sensitivity of the exhibition. “This is not something that happened a thousand years ago, you can’t say it happened,” he said. “The survivors are still out there.”

Chanchani hopes that bringing Cambodian art to the United States will comfort audiences.

But what can the United States, one of the largest economic and military powers, learn from tiny Southeast Asian country Cambodia, beyond how to move on from painful memories and, as the exhibition catalogue describes it, the current intertwined global crises of “public health, economic instability, authoritarian regimes, racial injustice, and climate change”?

So how does a country recover from the Khmer Rouge killing nearly a quarter of its population as they built an agricultural utopia for workers and peasants?

For some Cambodians, 40 years on, it seems almost impossible for the country to move on or show a new face when its past suffering is discussed, especially on the international stage.

Reaksmey Yean, a Cambodian art writer, curator and researcher based in Phnom Penh, praised the Michigan exhibition but added that it was a “cliche” because Angkor Wat and the Khmer Rouge have been overused to represent Cambodia.

“Exhibitions about Cambodia and its history and culture are rare in the United States, so I think it’s important to have this exhibition to put Cambodia on the map,” Rixmey Young told VOA’s Khmer Service. “But for me, it’s old news because our civil war has been over for more than 20 years, and there’s still a lot to show in our culture.”

Museum director Christina Olson said visitors will have the opportunity to learn about “unique cultural and political [significance] Showcasing “The Charm of Cambodia” through historical and contemporary art created by Cambodian and overseas artists.

“At the same time, the exhibition also provokes reflection on broader cultural, social and political events of our time and fosters dialogue about the lessons to be learned from the pain and resilience of the Cambodian people,” she added in a press release.

Svay Sareth is a Cambodian artist whose sculptures, installations and ongoing performance works are “made using materials and processes that intentionally relate to war – metal, uniforms, camouflage and movements that require great endurance,” according to Richard Koh Gallery in Singapore. Sareth’s interest in how Cambodia was affected by war and how the Cambodian people continue to move forward influences his art.

“I hope American audiences [to] Look at the intergenerational impacts after the Cambodian genocide,” Sarres said.

Another work is Full Circle by Khmer-American artist Amy Lee Sanford, which consists of 40 broken pots that have been restored and arranged in a circle. She is known for her “Break Pot” performance work, in which she Drop the pot from a height and glue the broken pieces back togethertrying to show that situations can change in seconds, and even if fixed, will never be the same again.

Sanford said she hopes the Michigan exhibition will show that Cambodians “have memories of some important buildings and religious structures … and that there are contemporary artists now making work that is about history and about looking to the future.”