Sa Sa Art Projects is pleased to welcome you to an open studio by our former Pisaot artist-in-residence Chhun Kimly who has spent eight weeks researching and experimenting on new works. This residency is made possible through the support from Rei Foundation.

Artist’s Chhum Kimly is going to shows three mediums of work for the-end-residency’s opening studio. During her eight-week residency with Sa Sa Art Projects, she was interested in research how to be connecting with the natural materials and Cambodians who living next to the South China Sea. She has created work, which includes 3D video, installation, and photography.

This open studio work depicts the current era that the artist is experiencing and dedicating to her grandmother that lives alone and far away from the family in her elderly age. She is a brave, strong, and resilient woman. She promised to her mother “to live on ancestors land, preserve and protect, not to lose, or sell to anyone and must live there for the rest of her life because this was a wish from her late great-grandmother”. She must preserve this legacy land because this is her dream. At her hometown, she lives in an old, thatched house, it was old which in a state needed to repair. she is a farmer. Grandma’s eyes are a little dim, she tries to work on her farm, although sometimes she is not sure about how much she could earn from the farm, she still work hard because she doesn't want to leave the land vacant. Her house is near the coast of China sea. The locals are farmers, mostly old people, and teenagers or young adults are work in labor at Prey Nokor city. Grandmother told a story that said; At Preah Trapeng (Trà Vinh) province, there was a Cambodian legend who planted a tree that is almost 200 years old now. On the other hand, it is different from ordinary trees, it’s a reverse planting dipterocarpacee tree 1, villagers are paying respect to the tree and also protect and preserve the tree because it is a testament to the struggle of the Khmer hero ancestors, which indicate the soul of the villagers.