Elements by Mech Choulay & Mech Sereyrath

opened by Sa Sa Art

Jun 12 - Aug 07, 2020

Elements presents a new collaborative work by artist sisters Mech Choulay and Mech Sereyrath. The two artists use performance and personal actions in the form of photographs and videos to shed light on the resilience of nature against destruction caused by humans.

Choulay and Sereyrath have traveled several times to Anlong Veng, Oddar Meanchey province, to learn the history of the region and the forest preservation work by the communities there. Located in the northern part of Cambodia, Anlong Veng is the last territory occupied by the Khmer Rouge. This region is filled with dense jungle and Dângrêk Mountains lying along the Cambodian-Thai border.

The artists have spent time at the Monk's Community Forest, which is known as the last forest in Oddar Meanchey province and is managed by Buddhist monks and villagers in Anlong Veng. They have met and joined with many monks patrolling the forest, and have stayed there to make works. This forest has been relentlessly intruded by deforestation and wildlife hunting.

Learning from the religious practice in forest preservation, the artists made interventions by wrapping or painting on the trees like the tree ordination done by the community. In this case, however, the artistic "ordination" done by the artists is instead an observation, learning, and relationship building between the artists and the forest. We can imagine the artist using brush enduringly painting the trees inch by inch, one at a time.

In this exhibition, a series of six photographs show renewed trees in painted colors or golden wrap. In one picture, however, we see a scarecrow draped in monk's robe standing by the forest, whereas in another photograph, a dead tree left erected in half after being burned. In fact, the artists threw ashes onto it, creating a mysterious, foggy effect as if demanding curiosity from the viewers. In a single-channel video, a peculiar creature in bright colors flies or crawls up and down, changing its form every second. It mutates, disappears, and reappears in unpredictable ways.

Moreover, Choulay and Sereyrath have traveled to the Mekong River to research about water and its cycle. There are big eleven hydropower dam development projects along the Mekong River which runs through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Studies have warned that this kind of development is extremely harmful to the environment and the communities along the Mekong, while this essential river already deteriorates from sand dredging, over-fishing, and degradation of river life.

Also presented here in this exhibition, another single-channel video and four photographs feature a performance done by the artists. In this work, a strange, unidentified figure — covered their face and body with a very long red robe — wanders, twists, and floats on the river. Sometimes they appear grieving, other times eerie, not so different from the river which suffers by human activities while it could also cause seasonal destruction. This figure digs and eats sand until pregnant, and there was born a big clump of baby sand. The common Khmer term for baby delivery Chhlorng Tonle — which means "cross the river" — mirrors the figure's wandering across the water.

In Elements, Mech Choulay and Mech Sereyrath employ performance and individual actions to make us see more clearly the beauty and the resilience of nature. The artists reimagine a new existence of
natural life by transforming them into new forms (ordinated trees, animal-hand, and river creature). Either forest or water, the artists immerse themselves into them, as if turning themselves into them,
and through artistic interventions, they call for protection and healing for our endangered ecology.

Artist Interview by Sa Sa Art Projects:

Artist interview : Mech Choulay & Mech Sereyrath "Elements" [ Facebook ]
Video by: Chhum Phanith / Courtesy of Sa Sa Art Projects

About artists:

Mech Choulay (b. 1992 in Kandal province) holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Midwifery from Chenla University (2015). She was enrolled in a Japanese Language program at the Institute of Foreign Language for two years. She currently works as Project Assistant at Brave Ministry. Choulay receives scholarship for Documentary Filmmaking and Multimedia from the Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center, 2020. She graduated Contemporary and Documentary Photography Class, Sa Sa Art Projects, 2018. She graduated English for artist, Sa Sa Art Projects, 2019. She participated in colLABoration workshop with Multidisciplinary Art (MDA) students from Chiang Mai University’s Faculty of Fine
Arts at Sa Sa Art Projects 2019 -2020. Her currently exhibitions include Message in Mind, TorTim Art Gallery, 2019 and her artwork, The Beauty, 2018, which is has been joined a graduation exhibition,
Co at Sa Sa Art Projects 2018.

Mech Sereyrath (b. 1993 in Phnom Penh) graduated from the Department of Media and Communication, the Royal University of Phnom Penh. Currently, she is working as a freelance photographer and documentary filmmaker. She has produced a photo book titled Air Pollution in Phnom Penh. Besides this, she is interested in nature and existentialism. Her current project explores individual existence and definition of gratitude in various ages. Sereyrath graduated Contemporary and Documentary Photography Class, Sa Sa Art Projects, 2018. She graduated English for artist, Sa Sa Art Projects, 2019. Her currently exhibitions include Contemporary Breath, Sangker Gallery, Battambang; and 10th Photo Phnom Penh Festival, Message in Mind, TorTim Art Gallery, 2019. Her artwork, Gratitude, 2018, which is has been joined a graduation exhibition, Co at Sa Sa Art Projects 2018.