Arjay Stevens, the bio-scientist and pharmacist turned independent photographer and researcher, is holding a farewell exhibition titled Look Up – Billboards: Cambodia’s Vanished Art. He is moving back to his native Germany after nearly three decades in the Kingdom. Stevens visited Cambodia for the first time in 1996 and has been photographing and studying Cambodia’s cultural and artistic heritage ever since. “It’s a homage to Cambodia and I’m touched by Arjay’s sensitivity and generosity,” said Marina Pok, founder of the Anicca Foundation and curator of the exhibition, which is only display at Aroma Gallery near the National Museum from March…
Author: Raksmey Hong
A new documentary, The Perfect Motion, or Tep Hattha in Khmer, will premiere to the public on April 1. The documentary film follows two intertwined storylines: the creation of a show called Metamorphosis by the late Princess Norodom Buppha Devi (her very last production) and the history of the Royal Ballet of Cambodia, which dates back to 1906. The powerful documentary will screen at cinemas across the length and breadth of the Kingdom, with both Khmer and English subtitles, meaning it will be perfectly accessible to both local and international lovers of the arts. Prince SisowathTesso, former private secretary to…
Cambodian Restaurant Week, a week-long event promoting Khmer food in Long Beach, in the US state of California, is being held to bring people together and celebrate the Kingdom’s rich culinary history and share it with the multitude of ethnic communities in Long Beach, California, and around the US. Long Beach Cambodian Restaurant Week is a California registered non-profit, organised by the United Cambodian Community (UCC) to pay homage to the unique foods of the Cambodian community. “We are proud of this event, and this is the first time it has taken place in Long Beach,” said Sayon Syprasoeuth, UCC…
One decades-old car claimed to have a special relationship to Cambodian history sits among the many hundreds-of years-old antique items, as well as an assortment of more recent artefacts, at the privately-owned Vimean Sokha Museum in Siem Reap. The owner of the museum, Ly Peng Heng – sometimes called ta chkuot or a crazy old coot by the public for his obsession with antiques – has claimed that the 1958 Volkswagen Beetle 1100 in his collection once belonged to famed “golden voice” Cambodian singer Sinn Sisamouth. “Most visitors are not interested in this Volkswagen until they learn that it used…
“Yoga and Meditation for Wellbeing” is back for a third edition with the aim of improving quality of life and creating fun activities for mental and physical wellbeing. The event will be held on March 18 from 7:30am to mid-day at AEON Mall Sen Sok Hall, 3rd Floor, and will welcome 500 participants. “This year, we plan to receive 500 practitioners and we expect that there will be people who are civil servants, business people and private company employees taking part in the event,” said Chot Dalin, a director at Junior Chamber International (JCI), Toul Kork branch. JCI is a…
St. Patrick’s Day is Ireland’s national day and a celebration of all things Irish, including a unique sport which several of the Kingdom’s women have wholeheartedly embraced. As a result of their passion, Cambodia’s Cairde Khmer Gaelic Football women’s team has been invited to represent all of Asia at the World Gaelic Games 2023 in Ireland, as have their male counterparts. The world games will take part in Derry, Ireland this July. To raise funds for the team to make it to the European event – a trip which will be many of the players first time outside the country…
On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Association of Francophone Universities (AUF) in the Asia-Pacific region, a drawing competition called “My Francophone, My Future and My Identity” was organised. Buddhist monk Thon Siphat won two prizes: The third prize for digital drawing and the public’s choice prize among 26 candidates from four countries, including Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia. Siphat is a fourth-year student at the Royal University of Fine Arts (RUFA) majoring in communications drawing. “The drawing represents our Cambodian students studying French. They learn about Khmer history in French textbooks. The man standing…
A team of established film producers from the Mekong region are working together to launch the “Write and Eat” initiative. The project aims to provide film production training and support the next generation of screenwriters. In this way, the project’s organisers hope to preserve the region’s unique culture through high quality local films. The producers – from Cambodia, Lao, Vietnam and Singapore – are inviting local companies to sponsor the workshops, which are being undertaken with the support of the cinema department of the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts. The initiative is a collaborative effort by 802 Films’ Sok…
Thanks to the arrival of a friendly flock of great hornbills, Hour Rithy, a former aviculturist – or raiser of birds – in Kratie province turned Phnom Penh tuk tuk driver, has seen a partial return to his former profession. He has become something of a guide for the local and international visitors who come to feed the unique birds each day in front of the Electricite du Cambodge (EDC) building near Wat Phnom in Daun Penh district. Ny Sophanna, a Phnom Penh resident, approached him and asked, “What time will the hornbills come down to feed?” “Yesterday I was…
Three young artists – including a Buddhist monk – are holding an art exhibition called Rebuild at Phnom Penh’s Sa Sa Art Projects gallery space until mid-May. Leng Kimsreang, Kong Dara, and Soung Pheakdey are exhibiting paintings, sculptures and large-scale installation works that highlight the simple yet complex cycles of life and human creation. The three are aiming to explore the links between psychological health and urban development, the fluidity of life, love, and gender, and human relationships with ecology and dharma. “The exhibition’s title is taken from Kimsreang’s work Rebuild, which features sculptures and installations made primarily from shattered…