‘Patch’ by Graduate Contemporary Art Class – Sa Sa Art Projects

Sa Sa Art Projects

Mar 10 - Mar 26, 2021

^{Soung Pheakdey, Patch (elephant), 2020, Mat, acrylic on monk robe, wires, 50 x 65 x 65 cm
All images by Courtesy of Sa Sa Art Projects}

Patch presents new works by eight artists who recently graduated from Sa Sa Art Projects’ Contemporary Art Class 2020. The exhibition is a culmination of a six-month program through which the participants engaged in classroom lectures and discussions, site and studio visits, and development of new works. Coming from diverse educational backgrounds and professional fields, the eight participants produce new works employing various media from painting, sculpture, mix- media, installation, performance and video. They explore and question a range of topics including education, environment (climate change), religion, memory, human right, Covid situation, technology and economy.

Contemporary Art Class is part of Sa Sa Art Projects’ education program aiming to support young artists in developing their emerging artistic practices and building critical knowledge.
The class involves three-month weekly meetings, followed by another three-month period for participants to develop new bodies of work. In the class, participants discuss different topics of various disciplines such as history, art and cultural history, politics, philosophy, and geography, facilitated by Sa Sa Art Projects’ co-founder Khvay Samnang and a number of invited guest lecturers and speakers. This critical discussion in turn informs and deepens the participants’ artistic practices and research for their new works.

About Artists:

KEO Pheak (born 1991, Battambang) she is an exhibition coordinator. In 2012 she went to studied visual art at Phare Ponleu Selpak. She is currently living in Phnom Penh and passionate about contemporary performance art. She also doing research about environmental issues, sharing education, and the recycle. Her artwork is focusing on women, social-environmental issues and discrimination on the basis of race.

KOUCH Kimchour (born in 1996, Siem Reap) graduated in department of interior design from The Royal University of Fine Art in 2019. He is an assistant interior design of architect. After studied at Contemporary Art Class, it’s given him more knowledge on human livelihood. He is interested in the event that happened in society the people environment and technology.

CHEA Chansoksambath (born 2000) is a Phnom Penh resident currently a senior in Computer Science at NIPTICT. Despite the science major, he is also a freelance graphic designer and UI designer for various projects, ranging from social initiatives, to events, to various application development projects. He is fascinated by social issues, especially environment and sustainability. Outside art endeavors, he also has had various experiences in mobile application development, project design and implementation, environment, sustainable development, and more.

PHE Phearom (born in 1998 from Sihanuk ville) graduated in department of Fine Art from The Royal University of Fine Arts in 2019. He is currently work and living in Phnom Penh. He is a freelance interior designer, an architect and. He is interested in kinetic sculpture which his work focus in moving or alive beauty techniques and technology that related to the society issue, the influent of development capacity, climate change, the division of nature, politic, the lost and individualistic.

PHY Phorn (born in 1995, Siem Reap) is a senior in architecture and urbanis of Royal University of Fine Arts. He studied drawing from Small Art School from 2008-2018 and self taught artist. Most of his works reflect the society and nature through creative painting.

SOUR Eliza (born in 2002, Phnom Penh) is a freshman in architecture at Norton University. She studied Contemporary Art Class at Sa Sa Art Projects in 2020. She is interests in environment, economy, war and human connection.

SOUNG Pheakdey (born in 1996,Takeo province). He is a fourth year student at the Royal University of Fine Arts in major in painting, and University of Indratevy in law and the Sa sa art project in Contemporary and Documentary Photography class in 2019.

ING Porlin (born in 1991, Kampong Cham Province) was a student of Architecture and Urban Planning in the Royal University of Fines Art, graduated bachelor degree in 2015. Nowadays, she is working on architectural freelance projects with her team in Phnom Penh. Beside architectural creativities, she likes abstract drawing and DIY craft. Most of her artistic forms are combination of geometric and organic form. She is keen on creating contemporary art works which show about existing problems in society and art concepts that motivates people to have critical thinking of any philosophy, that has it’s value in social development and culture of humanity.

Ing Porlin, Kam Rong, 2021
Throughout its history, Cambodia has gone through many wars and regime changes. In almost every field this caused the loss of many documents through fires and wartime destruction such as during the Longvek and Khmer Rouge wars. After the end of the war, in the last 40 years, our country has developed the economy, tourism, urbanization and modern media but in the field of education we still have a shortage of documents to study and research with regards to libraries and media. Society in general is rich with documents translated from foreign languages. Slek Rith manuscripts used to play an important role in documenting ancient times. They are however rarely used in religious texts, so I created this “Kam Rong” artwork using manuscripts to encourage people to come together to promote the re-documentation of our society. Obviously, documenting is not just the work of a single group of researchers. Everyone has a meaningful life experience to share, it can be knowledge, skills, accomplishments or important events that everyone goes through in life. The compilation and sharing of all individuals is very influential in our society, from one person to another and from one generation to the next. We should ask ourselves what we want to share and leave somethingmeaningful for today’s society and future generations.

Guest lecturers and speakers included Sopheap Pich, Leang Seckon, Soung Sokro, San Phalla, Vuth Lyno and Roger Nelson.

Contemporary Class 2020 is supported by Rei Foundation.