The Eighth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

LIUDING China b.1976 NewMan 2015 Oil on canvas / 180 x 250cm / Image courtesy: The artist and MOT International, London and Brussels become intertwined. Few places carry such a heavy and pervasive trauma as Cambodia. Among the many atrocities of the Khmer Rouge period of 1975–79 is the wiping out of almost a generation of artists. The era’s turmoil is ingrained in the Cambodian psyche and asserts a clear influence on contemporary art. Leang Seckon is one of the few living artists who had direct experience of the Khmer Rouge, and his works are haunted by the ongoing travails of the Cambodian people. In Hell of Tuol Sleng 2014, Leang makes very literal depictions of the era’s violence, manifest in a high school that was transformed by the Khmer Rouge into a death camp, now a genocide museum. The use of ancient cultural motifs intertwined with aspects of contemporary life are also embedded throughout his works, acknowledging that past histories are very much part of today’s Cambodian experiences. He acknowledges that the survivors of such widespread anguish have been thrown into a rapidly developing society, not allowing them time to reflect on their past and its place in contemporary life. Through rich tableaux, he draws on the Khmer Rouge period as well as traditional and spiritual motifs to reflect on the effects of development and modernisation on the environment and the individual. A wide-ranging combination of symbols and historical and personal reflection allows him to come to terms with a collective past. Social factors permeate contemporary art, and the works discussed here imbricate individual practice with collective consciousness, placing a discernible value on art as an instrument to address social concerns. The shaping of societies by historical events, economics and belief systems, and the way they function, act and express themselves is constantly being tested and explored. Here, the social body provides a rich source of creative expression, from everyday and sacred rituals that bring people together, to perceptions that unite or divide and the voices that otherwise go unheard.