Under the Water
by Sao Sreymao
Exhibition opening: Wednesday 17 Octorber 2018
Exhibition period: 17 Oct - 15 Dec 2018
This exhibition is supported by Rei Foundation
Under the Water presents the latest series of digital sketch on photograph work and a new installation by Sao Sreymao. Poetic as much as haunting, Sreymao constructs images of changing and disappearing communities along the Mekong River and its tributaries in the northern part of Cambodia that are affected by human-made environmental degradation.
Environmental and social concerns have been at the centre of Sreymao’s practice. In 2007-08, she worked on environmental education with several communities in Koh Ro-Ngeav, Kratie province, known as the largest island on Cambodia’s Mekong. She returned back regularly in 2017 and 2018 when she was moved by the alarming changes to the communities. The villages once full of life turned deserted; only some elders and children remained while most adults have moved to seek jobs in nearby provinces and neighbouring countries. The villagers attributed the labour migration to the gradually lower fish catch over the last decade.
These changes are reflected in three works of Sreymao titled “Koh Pdao” (“Livelihood,” “Leaving,” and “Past and Future”), in which the artist overlays photographs of the village by the river banks with sketches of once supposed to be lively scenes. The contrasting white drawings at once erase the photographic images of the present while recalling the past. The pictures seem to yearn for a continuity of time and life that has been disrupted, while also offering an imagined possibility of one.
Experts in natural and social sciences have already warned about the deterioration of the ecosystem of Tonle Sap Lake and Mekong due to climate change, overfishing and, more disastrously, dam construction. In a 2017’s assessment on the costs and benefits of existing and planned hydroelectric dams in the Lower Mekong Basin, the Mekong River Commission concluded that hydropower projects would increase energy security and contribute to economic growth, however at the price of irreversible damage to the ecosystem and food security in the region while displacing many local communities.
Sreymao vividly illuminates this impact in other confronting six images titled “LSS2.” The images depict the now desolate houses in Srekor commune, Strung Treng province, covered with layers of grimy colour effects and drawings of presumably evicted families and villagers underwater. Some family figures stand in front of their houses as if marking their existence against the water washing, whereas the texts written on the houses behind indicate protests against the Lower Sesan 2 Dam project.
By the end of 2017, the entire village in Srekor was totally submerged after the newly constructed, downstream Lower Sesan 2 Dam closed its gates a few months earlier. About five thousand people, including a large number of indigenous Punong, who had been living by the banks of Sesan River for generations were forced to relocate. Sesan River or Tonle San is one of some important tributaries of Mekong, flowing through central Vietnam and north-east Cambodia. Environmental groups have echoed the negative impact of the Lower Sesan 2 Dam, not only on community displacement in Stung Treng but also on the fisheries both upstream and downstream as the dam blocks fish migration routes between Sesan and Mekong.
In addition to the prints, Sreymao also presents a new installation work: a cluster of small house and human sculptures made of candle wax. Installed on a sheet of reflecting mirror lying on the floor in the middle of the exhibition space, the candle sculptures are to be lit at the exhibition opening. They would melt down as the fire burns suggesting a contradictory consequence of the energy source.
Sreymao’s works in Under the Water are illustrative yet elusive. The images appear to be only traces of the artist’s memories or dreams. These remnants surface in sketches while the photographic images of the present underneath mutate their colours as if fleeting into different realms, like the candles melting away. All that is left are only traces of what was there and our reflection in the mirror.
About Artist
Sao Sreymao (b. 1986, Site 2 refugee camp, Thai border) graduated from Phare Ponleu Selpak’s School of Visual and Applied Arts, Battambang province in 2006, and was a participant of Sa Sa Art Projects’ Contemporary Art Class in 2016. Her multidisciplinary practice includes painting, photography, digital drawing, sculpture and performance. Her works explore personal expression and memories, as well as the changing physical and psychological landscapes of Cambodian urban and rural communities. She has also collaborated with various writers in visual storytelling and published a number of graphic novels. Sreymao was an artist fellow of Sylt Foundation to undertake a residency in Sylt, Germany in 2017. She is also a recipient of Dam Dos Grant 2018 of Cambodian Living Arts. Her most recent group exhibitions and performances include “Day Dream,” Khmer Sense (2018); “Body of Sorrow,” Sa Sa Art Projects (2018); “Facing the Climate Change,” the Ministry of Environment of Cambodia (2018) and Embassy of Sweden (2017); and “Kraanh Norneal,” Sa Sa Art Projects (2017).
Public Programs
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WHAT YOU PAY ATTENTION TO GROWS: Propositions around art societies, societies by art | Talk by Siddharta Perez
25 Oct 2018, 6:00–7:30 pm
In English with Khmer translation
Location: Sa Sa Art Projects -
WHAT YOU PAY ATTENTION TO GROWS: A workshop on facilitating (art) and trusting the people with Siddh
Saturday, 27 Oct 2018, 9am-12pm
In English with Khmer translation
Location: Sa Sa Art Projects -
A conversation between artists Sao Sreymao and Tith Kanitha
7 Nov 2018, 6:00-7:30 pm
In Khmer with English translation
Location: Sa Sa Art Projects, #47 Street 350 (near Street 95) -
Screening: “A Separation of Sand and Island” (2018) by Sutthirat Supaparinya
30 Nov 2018, 6:00-7:30pm, with a Q&A session afterward. The 19-minute film is in Thai and Lao, with English subtitles. Location: Sa Sa Art.
Catalogue
