The Space Between Inside/Outside

“meters

a n d m e t e r s o f m at e r i a l ac t a s a n e x t e n s i o n o f m y s k i n , a s a way f o r t h e s u r fac e o f m y b o dy to e x t e n d i n to p u b l i c s pac e s �

Java CafĂŠ + Gallery July 2 - September 2, 2012

The Space Between Inside/Outside is produced by JavaArts + Studio Revolt with additional support from Van Cleve Fine Arts

Foreword: Anida Yoeu Ali’s ‘The Space Between Inside/Outside’ As the artist Anida Yoeu Ali told me, this all began with the red stool. What was a usual encounter with the object characteristic of restaurants which line the Phnom Penh’s streets, emerged as a marked point of departure for Ali’s creation of the works which collectively form The Space Between Inside/Outside. Localizing the works in the Asian context within which they were conceived and created, within the photographic images, this motif also physically locates the artist and the performance in the striking individual frames and complex panoramas. At once a tool for Ali’s performative process, a reference to Ali’s identity and an individual sculptural object the red stool’s purposeful flexibility of function and form is characteristic of this new body of work.

The Space Between Inside/Outside presents the culmination of three month’s work as JavaArts’ inaugural artist-in-residence. This residency is well timed given Ali’s particularly active role and prominent presence in Phnom Penh’s contemporary arts scene since returning to live here in January 2011. Alongside her own artistic practice, she has launched collaborative media lab Studio Revolt, who have been prolific in supporting a new generation of untold narratives within Cambodia. In contrast to this often politically motivated work, this exhibition offers a more subtle tone and enigmatic message. Spanning photography, video, sculpture, and installation, this work exemplifies Ali’s practice which operates between the playful and the reflective, and explores performance and the real, proximity and distance.

Aside from the omnipresent red stool, Ali uses the aesthetic and conceptual trope of the ‘white cube’ to unite the multiple layers of her process and mediums evident in the final works on display. Navigating what she perceives to be the limitations imposed by the confines of the traditional ‘white cube’ gallery space on accessibility and perceived accessibility, Ali characteristically employs a participatory approach and negotiates public space.

Ali first explored the form and function of the ‘white cube’ within her JavaArts residency space in “Enter the Studio, Enter the Frame.” Demarcating an interactive studio with thick, black lines made from duct-tape an especially utilitarian material, and invited people to interact by creating compositions with their bodies and a series of short red stools infront of a camera. The responses were varied, fluctuating from the intimate, serious, to the jovial. These images were reconfigured in the interactive installation ”View from Here.” Visible from the outside, at street-level, “View From Here” functions as a place to sit, eat and drink, view art, and interact. It poses the provocation to come and view and be viewed, and in doing so, raises the question, who and what demarcates the physical and ideological respective states of being inside and outside?

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In her photographic series and video work which take art into the public realm, Ali narrates and gives life to urban and rural locations, which previously evoked solitude. Through bodily movement and material, explosions of intense beauty arise amidst the contrasting backdrops of urban decay and dilapidated buildings and the vivid pastoral scene of a lush rice field. Playing with scale for dramatic effect, the exaggerated stool elevates the artist above the environments she inhabits. The masses of red textiles flowing from her body, interweaves between the foreground and background, connecting the panorama of people, spaces and moments, as seen in “Daydreaming Inside the Past (Street 98)” where Ali’s figure is seen in multiple places in an old, abandoned mansion. Similarly, in “Enter the Ruins” and “The Fiery Rose” series, both of which depicting the former site of BoeungKak Lake, nostalgia is sharply evoked. The precise sculptural moment is enacted and captured as wind freely picks up the fabric, creating a billowing, graceful wave, injecting a temporary burst of red color into these spaces. In “Enter The Red Wind/Naga” this resulted in an unexpected Naga-like form emerging from the fabric, triumphantly rising to claim the open space—an expression of liberation.

For the opening of the exhibition Ali handed over the role of the ‘performer’ creating a situation whereby performance increasingly became life and life became art. Dressed strictly in black, hair severely scraped back from their face, the female staff of Java Café became a legion of stereotypically, serious curators: an ironic nod to the perceived austerity and inaccessibility of the white cube gallery space. This participation is inherent in Ali’s highly collaborative approach and her desire to challenge traditional boundaries often telescoped onto art making: artists/viewer, curator/artist, and in this case, café frequenter and passer-by.

Situated somewhere between performance, event, and object, Ali’s practice explores personal and poetic ruminations on loss and life. We see this through a practice anchored by a desire to tell personal, local and universal stories, claim histories, and provoke new memories for participants and viewers alike. The works in The Space Between Inside/Outside merge and linger as measures of time and space; between here and there, inside and outside, between the past and what will pass.

Ali’s tremendous attention to detail in realizing her vision is inspiring to observe. Her drive has made The Space Between Inside/ Outside one of the most ambitious exhibition in the twelve year history of Java Café & Gallery, which across this time, has hosted over 200 exhibitions, events and talks. It necessitated a hands-on effort from an ever evolving team and pushed the daily use of the café into a new direction by infiltrating it and creating artworks which not just invite, but in fact are made with the sole intention of being interacted with.

by Natalie Pace Natalie Pace is an independent curator based in Phnom Penh.

She is currently completing her master’s thesis about artistic dialogues with the city of Phnom Penh, focusing on participatory and public practices within a context of a rapidly urbanizing city.

Curatorially, she is interested in finding tools, methods, and models that work towards the democratization of art, and uphold its significance as a tool with which to explore socially-engaged concerns.

Now positioned in the middle of Java Café & Gallery, is the giant red stool. Positioned atop a lit squared stage which glows white, it is transformed into a monument of the ephemeral performances it helped momentarily create. As a testament to the scale of work and talent involved in The Space Between Inside/Outside the red stool stands proud.

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The Works Performance + Installation

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Giant Red Stool

ekAGIykSBN’Rkhm

Mixed Media Installation: 1m X 1m X 1.5 m (high) Wooden Stool, Red Paint, Flourescent Lightbox Base measures 2 m X 2 m X 20 cm dimensions varied

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Vertigo Dress

rUbm:Utvilmux

2012 Mixed Media Installation: Black & White Striped Linen and Polyester Knit Dress 6-meter in Radius, Thread, Wireframe Body, 6 Red Stools, White Sculpture Base dimensions varied

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Red Naga Dress

rUb NahÁaBN’Rkhm

2012 Mixed Media Installation: 20-meter Red Polyester Taffeta Dress, Wire, Plastic Tubing, Plastic Body, Flurorescent Bulbs dimensions varied

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View From Here

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2012 Interactive Mixed Media Installation 167 digital portrait compositions (1200 X 800 pixels) from “Enter the Studio, Enter the Frame” Open Studio (May 28 – June 8, 2012), 4 Low White Tables, 2 Black Frames, Red Stools, Vinyl letters, Duct Tape, White Paint, White Linoleum Floor, and Public Participants dimensions varied

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You Got Served (Enter the Curators) សមមុខអ្នកហើយ (ចូលជាមួយអ្នករៀបចំពិព័ណ៌)

2012 Live Performance Pressed Black Dress Pants and Shirts, Thick Rimmed Black glasses, Perfectly Painted Red Lips (women), Hair Pulled Back, Studio Revolt Aprons, Trays, Food, and Selected Art Theory & Art Criticism Books.

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Enter The Wind

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2012 9min, HD Video, single channel (loop) film stills from video

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Enter The Field (A Dance)

raMenAkùúgvalERs;

2012 8min, HD Video, single channel (loop) film stills from video and installation view

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Enter the Field#1 / Arch Pose 2012 Digital C-print

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cUlkñúgvalERselxTI1 ButxøÜn

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Enter the Field #2 / Dream Pose

cUlkñúgvalERselxTI2 ¼eKgRsém: 2012 Digital C-print

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Enter the Field #3 / Lift Pose

cUlkñúgvalERselxTI3¼elIkeLIgelI 2012 Digital C-print

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Daydreaming Inside the Past (Street 98) 2012 Digital C-print

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éfJrevIrvayxagkñúgénGtItkal ¬pøÚv98¦

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Enter Without an Exit Plan (Street 98) ដើរចូលដោយគ្មានគម្រោងសម្រាប់ពេលចេញវិញ

¬pøÚv98¦

2012 Digital C-print

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I Want Coconut/She Needs Ice Coffee (Street 49)#1

xJúMcg;júaMTwkdUg ¼ Kat;RtUvkarkaehVTwkkk elxTI1 ¬pøÚv49¦ 2012 Digital C-print

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The Fiery Rose (of BoeungKak Lake) #1 2012 Digital C-print

kUlabePøIgenAbwgkk;elxTI1

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The Fiery Rose (of BoeungKak Lake) Grey Wall#2 កូលាបភ្លើង (របស់បឹងកក់) ជញ្ជាំងប្រផេះ ២

2012 Digital C-print

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Enter the Ruins #1

enAkñúgkEnøgvinas elxTI1 2012 Digital C-print

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Enter the Ruins (BoeungKak Lake)#2

enAkñúgkEnøgvinas ¬bwgkk;¦elxTI2 2012 Digital C-print

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Enter the Lot #1 ដើរចូលដី ១

2012 Digital C-print

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Enter the Lot (Stung Meanchey) ដើរចូលដី (ស្ទឹងមានជ័យ)

2012 Digital C-print

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Enter the Red Wind / Naga #1

cUlkñúgxül;B’NRkhm ¼NahÁaelxTI1 2012 Digital C-print

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Enter the Red Wind / Horizon

cUlkñúgxül;B’NRkhm ¼bnÞat;xNç½ 2012 Digital C-print

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Enter the Red Wind / Loop

cUlkñúgxül;B’NRkhm ¼CuMrgVg; 2012 Digital C-print

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Enter the Red Wind / Flower Petal

cUlkñúgxül;B’NRkhm ¼ ស្រទាប់ផ្កា 2012 Digital C-print

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Enter the Red Wind / Splatter

cUlkñúgxül;B’NRkhm¼)acsac 2012 Digital C-print

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Enter the Red Wind / Curve

cUlkñúgxül;B’NRkhm ¼ekag 2012 Digital C-print

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“ ac c e s s i b i l i t y

i n a rt - m a k i n g a n d a rt - v i e w i n g , a l o n g s i d e t h e c o n c e p t o f p l ay , a r e e x t r e m e ly i m p o rta n t to m y m e t h o d o l o g y �

The Process Artist Talk + Ideation

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Introduction to JavaArts/Arts Lab JavaArts is a cultural enterprise that was launched in partnership with Java Café & Gallery in the year 2000 in Phnom Penh, where it is currently based operating a gallery and arts lab. Supported by the café and gallery activities, JavaArts is a platform for the development of contemporary visual arts in Cambodia. It works to sustain arts practices for artists, researchers, curators and other creative practitioners and has provided a launching pad to many emerging artists who have since gone on to become prominent figures in the contemporary art world.

In 2012, JavaArts launched the arts lab and residency program to expand the support and quality of art production, providing grants, workspace and logistical support to Cambodian artists. The residency program/arts lab extends its support to other arts practitioners to further the knowledge, documentation and critical discourse on contemporary Cambodian art both in the country and in the wider global context . artist-in-residence program

The artist in residence program was initiated as the JavaArts space responded to the artistic climate. Initially a showcase for emerging artists, it became clear that it served the community best in a generative role, facilitating artist initiatives by providing the necessary financial and logistical support so often needed. The space evolved to be a modular arts lab that functions as an office, a studio, a gallery and an incubator for contemporary concepts and ideas.

Left: Street level view of Java Café & Gallery with Ali’s “View From Here” interactive installation Right: Opening night reception of Ali’s exhibition

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In Conversation: Dana Langlois What were your experiences of hosting JavaArt’s inaugural artist- in-residence?

Since Anida was based in the JavaArts Lab, where I also work, I was given a privileged insight into her process as it unfolded in front of me. I was particularly intrigued by the concept for Anida’s ‘open studio’ and the response to it. Many people were thrilled to have the opportunity to play, to create, to participate in artmaking—I myself joined in and found it very meaningful in an unexpected way because it gave me permission to be a creator.

As the work evolved from the open studio to a fully conceived body of work, it moved out of the arts lab and into the rice paddies and abandoned buildings: where the work was truly performed. It was from here, that the production became more complicated and challenging and where Anida’s vision for the installation sprang.

How did Anida’s process translate in the final installation of the works?

When the works were installed across the two floors of the café-cum-gallery, the space was radically transformed. I have always believed that ordinary, or everyday spaces can be sites for artistic expression and artistic experiences. For this reason, Anida was invited to be the first artist in residence because as a performance and visual artist she challenges the way art is experienced and she strives to extend its literal or perceived boundaries. I’m interested in confronting the idea that art exists in a vacuum, or worse in an exclusive sphere.

It’s not just this defiance to that which appealed to me, but also the beauty and enigma that emerged from Anida’s personal aesthetic. I was fascinated by how the sculptures and installations interrupted the space with color, shape and movement. The works moved off the walls activating overlooked or dormant corners which created an element of surprise. Anida’s work demanded a fresh way of looking at and experiencing the space.

Dana Langlois Dana Langlois, founder of Our City and founder of JavaArts, is a cultural producer based in Phnom Penh Cambodia since 1998. Opening one of the first contemporary art galleries in the capitol city (Java Café & Gallery, 2000), Dana has contributed to the re-launch of a dynamic art scene in Cambodia that has been devastated by war and political instability for several decades.

The café, which is malleable like the arts lab, offered an opportunity as well for Anida to explore performance in a different mode. On the opening night the café staff became participants in a performance while the interactive installation “View From Here” played with its location—offering an alternative space to sit and socialize. But the magic is that the artworks reflected the living space and context and encouraged human interaction.

On a personal note, I’m proud to acknowledge that the JavaArts Lab initiative has been launched with Anida Yoeu Ali as the first artist in residence.

Her work is meaningful not only for Cambodia as it turns to the future, searching for a new identity, but for JavaArts itself as it moves to a new level of programming and explores its position in global dialogues about contemporary art. It’s a great pleasure to work with an artist like Anida who brings a strong vision and commitment to realizing it.

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In Conversation: Anida Yoeu Ali

Original Artist Talk with curator Natalie Pace occurred on July 7, 2012

The body of work presented as “The Space Between Inside/Outside” is the culmination of your three month residency at JavaArts. You came to Cambodia in November 2004 on a residency as part of the Mekong Project through Dance Theatre Workshop in New York. This was your first solo residency in Cambodia however and, after 11 years of being active, it was also JavaArts’ inaugural artist-in-residence. How did this come to be? What were your experiences as JavaArts’ Artist-in-Residence?

This residency was exactly what I needed at a time when my identity as an artist was being absorbed by my collaborative works with Studio Revolt. While I cherish my work and voice with Studio Revolt, the works within that partnership require a different process and a different approach to storytelling. I needed space, time, and resources to better understand my individual practice. The JavaArts Lab residency afforded me the opportunity to fully realize an idea from concept to completion. I thrive in active spaces so having a small studio space nestled inside the gallery office and café/bakery was inspiring. Rather than an isolated, quiet space where I was left alone, as is often thought to be the purpose of a studio, mine was visually open with the hustle and bustle of a business and arts organization. Added to this, the resources and experience that Dana Langlois and her team brought were essential in realizing the scope of my work.

Talk us through the processes you went through during your residency.

The three month period was an extremely generous time as it took me a good month to merely carve the mind space for the creation of this new work. By the second month, small sparks of ideas started to surface which led to my Open Studio event. Once I invited the public to interact with these early ideas, then the magic happened: the Open Studio became the catalyst to creating the rest of the works in the exhibition. The third month was all about execution and creation, where I designed and fabricated the giant red stool and two dresses. My team and

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Ali’s studio space provided by the JavaArts Lab

I scouted intensely for locations for the photography sessions, trekking rice fields and abandoned urban spaces, for what ended up being a four-day photo shoot.

I went into these shoots with a composition in mind but I had no idea that the wind would prove to be such a participant in making the images. The presence of the wind is what activates many of these photographic compositions. This kind of happenstance is the reason why I love creating in the moment. This ephemeral aspect of performance is what keeps luring me back into performance. There are multiple layers of performances in one photograph. I perform, the wind performs, and finally the photographic object itself performs. As objects, the photograph becomes evidence of a performance as much as they become artworks themselves.

As you just stated, the first outcome of the residency was your open studio event, “Enter the Studio, Enter the Frame,” where you invited participation from the public. In creating the participatory event, you made your process highly transparent. Can you explain this in more detail?

Accessibility in art-making and art-viewing, alongside the concept of play, are extremely important to my methodology. And with play comes an element of risk. The Open Studio event was a way for the public to see my process but also become a part of it. It was an invitation to engage with me not in some far removed studio, but in a highly accessible space.

Within my makeshift studio corner I taped two square frames in black duct tape against two walls and along the floor. With masking tape and left over cheap pleather, I taped together a white floor before placing eight short, red stools of varying sizes inside the space. I had a simple point and shoot camera and no fancy lights, and people were then invited into the studio to play with and compose something from the red stools, the two black frames, and their bodies. When they were ready, I simply offered to document the moment.

There was also quite an overwhelming response. Why do you think that was?

Yes it took some prodding, some publicity, and gentle nudging in the beginning but that’s expected because people tend to fear that which they do not know. Contemporary art is new to Cambodia and what I am asking people to do can be seen as strange and foreign. As adults often working long hours, how many of us get the chance to play and interact with objects that we see every day here in Cambodia? So…I set the time for the Open Studio to coincide with people’s lunch breaks, the weekend, and even allowed for people to make appointments when it was most convenient for them. People came with friends, family members, partners, and many by themselves. I went into the café/bakery and asked for participants from both staff and customers.

Even the neighborhood kids who usually play in the back alley came almost every day after school because after

Top: View of café window before Below: View of café space during installation

the first session, they had so many more ideas for compositions. Witnessing people open up and embrace their own creativity — that was the true performance behind this Open Studio.

In the end, when the week-long Open Studio was over I was left with over 300 images. By rotating some of the photos 90 degrees, the compositions drastically shifted with some people appearing to have superhuman or acrobatic abilities!

In Conversation (cont)

These images came to form a critical part of the installation “View From Here.” How was this piece conceived?

I conceived “View From Here” as a site-specific mixed media installation where outside viewers and inside patrons can both be active participants in an artwork that challenges who gets to participate in art making and ultimately art viewing. The same eight red stools from my studio space re-appear inviting café guests to dine ‘Khmer’ style, at least seating wise. The portraits eventually became set into digital frames within low standing white tables. “View From Here” pushes the aesthetics of the ‘White Cube’ space, literally forcing itself into a corner.

Not only in “View From Here” but across this body of work, we see the reoccurring motif of the red stool: a ubiquitous sight at the restaurants that line streets not only in Phnom Penh but much of Asia.

How and why were you inspired by them?

The sparks for my work tend to begin with some strong visual motif that gestates for some time. The short stools are some of the first objects I noticed when I first travelled here in 2004. Then I noticed they were everywhere, as if they followed me around to Ho Chi Minh City, Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur, all over Southeast Asia. The stools are common items with a utilitarian purpose.

Everyday people use them to eat along the street, to wash dishes in large basins, for casual sitting, and practically for anything. They are cheap, lightweight, portable, and common and I am drawn to bold colors in general. Plus I had imagined myself in an outrageously long, red gown traversing through rice fields and urban ruins so it made sense to connect that image through the color red. Red is life, fire, and passion— the connecting force in spaces of solitude.

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RIGHT: Photographs from the Open Studio participants.

The portraits are digitally displayed in low lying white tables.

Viewers may interact with the installation.

In Conversation (cont)

Indeed, one particularly striking feature in this body of work is the extravagant use of material and textiles in the video “Enter the Field: A Dance,” photographs such as “Enter the Wind,” and of course the installations “Red Naga Dress” and “Vertigo Dress.” What role does the material play here and how does it reference your previous work and practice?

Currently, I perform in site-specific locations, often energetically ‘charged’ spaces that utilize meters and meters of textile. For me, materials act as an extension of skin, as a way for the surface of my body to extend into public spaces, and as a metaphor for stories to spill into an expanse. Performing narratives is an act of social storytelling that contributes to collective healing. Performance and storytelling have become ways of bridging the interior and exterior space of self. This theme of externalizing my interior space is the thread that connects my early writings and performances with my current body of work.

The series of photographs and video were shot in starkly different private and public locations, featuring contrasting backdrops of urban decay and lush green rice fields. These locations required the consent and collaboration of a variety of people. How did you find people responded to these negotiations of space and to your performances?

My policy is to always ask permission when people are involved. I will never push my camera in front of people’s faces just to snap an exotic image. I will never take up space where I am not welcomed, except as a form of political protest. In general, the public were willing participants and often active observers at many of the sites. Perhaps, it may be best to offer some anecdotes for this question in relationship to each location/ photograph.

Enter the Ruins #1 — The ruins were not ‘abandoned’ because squatters used the ruins as shelter and/or for their drug habit. No one gave us any trouble. And the kids were helpful and guarded our stuff. They even volunteered to be in some of the photos.

Enter the Field#1/Arch Pose – No Khmer person was around because unlike the crazy, clueless foreigners or artists – the Khmer rice workers knew to work the land early in the morning, taking shelter after 9am when the sun would begin to poison and punish my crew with UV rays. My crew was beaten by the sun, heat, biting ants, mosquitoes, and other critters. Rice fields although seemingly tranquil and beautiful proved to be unwieldy and challenging.

I Want Coconut/She Needs Ice Coffee (Street 49) #1– These folks win the prize for our favorite neighbourhood to shoot in because the entire block helped us to create the image. The shop owner across the street gave us a dressing room. People moved around cars and motos to make room for us. The coconut vendor was merely stopping in and enthusiastically stayed when we asked him to participate. The noodle stand customers stuck around and effortlessly helped us fill the shot with people. We returned three weeks later as promised with invitations for the neighbourhood to attend the reception.

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The Fiery Rose (of BoeungKak Lake) #1– The local folks openly voiced their curiosity and even made up a story about us filming a ghost story whereby they named the film and the woman’s character as “The Fiery Rose of BoeungKak Lake.” We were given a place to take shelter and rest across the street at a local NGO who worked with neighbourhood kids.

Having lived, worked and studied in Chicago for many years, returning to live in Phnom Penh in January of last year after only short visits prior to this, what are the biggest differences and similarities that you have found working in Phnom Penh?

Right now, Phnom Penh is the city to be in! I am inspired to be here— to live, work, and create amongst an incredible energy and fervor. This has everything to do with Cambodia waking up from a very dark time and forging ahead in a contemporary setting of rapid urbanization, a youthful nation, and spirit of resilience. I feel very strongly that there is something special happening in the contemporary art scene here. It is a small community, but the hunger to experiment and create is contagious.

Resources are limited and institutional funding is non-existent but that doesn’t mean an ecology isn’t in place for the creative community. That’s what is so amazing. Khmer artists are some of the most resourceful people on this earth.

Chicago felt like a place where I was sketching for ideas that are now taking shape and being realized here in Cambodia. As a Cambodian American, I am constantly navigating a kind of insider/outsider perspective, often switching between the two depending on the situation. It has been a dream of mine to live and work in the city that my parents once called ‘home.’ How to sustain my artistic practice is unknown, but I feel creatively unbound and that I am tapping into something greater than financial concerns. I feel very free to create and experiment here and I am not afraid of failures. Some things take much longer to complete here. There is no art supply store or convenient one-stop shop, so the biggest challenge comes in sourcing materials and supplies. But other things can take a very short amount of time to do. It’s a constant give and take, and an exercise in patience and diligence. This is where I need to be right now as an artist of the diaspora.

TOP: On location at a vacant lot in Stung Meanchey district BOTTOM: Artist (Ali) working with photographer Vinh Dao on the composition of the shot

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In Conversation (cont)

Many people, particularly in Cambodia, are familiar with your work as collaborative partner in ‘Studio Revolt’ with your often politically-charged work. Similarly, as an individual artist, you refer to yourself as a “global agitator.” Your work in The Space Between Inside/Outside seems very different. How would you respond to the idea that there is a disconnect between the two and what does it say about you as an artist?

I once told a dear friend that complacency kills creativity, to never settle or be pigeon holed into a genre, a set style, or a way of acting/behaving. I am constantly reinventing myself, blame it on my Phoenix-Sagittarius inclinations or my need to be challenged as an artist. One day I am a global agitator and the next day I can make beautifully odd panoramic photos. As an artist, I respond to the world around me. Sometimes it means sounding off my yawp over the rooftops of the world and other times it means finding the quiet beauty in rice fields and a gust of wind.

In any partnership, it is very important to preserve the individual voices and processes that often get compromised for the sake of collaboration. At Studio Revolt, we value the solo works each of us engage in outside of the collaborations because these artistic muscles need to be used and flexed just as much.

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Do you think people expected you to create a performance for the opening? Tell us about your decision to theme the opening.

People know me as a performance artist, so yes I think others expected me to “perform” and I think I even expected myself to perform. But I felt that performances would already be occurring on multiple levels: the photographs served as artefacts to my performances, the sculptural objects and dresses were performing for the public, the “View From Here” installation was an interactive space, and the Java wait staff were prepped to ‘perform.’

This was actually the most obvious part of the evening’s performance, as I had arranged for the wait staff to dress as ‘curators’ serving both food and art theory books. It showed how extremely malleable Java Café & Gallery is as a space. The opportunity to exhibit in this kind of space was not only an exercise in how to best use the café, but also how to make the most impact considering its visibility as a business. Dana and her staff were extremely open to my ideas and approach and worked with me to problem solve through some of my concerns.

The space inspired the way the artworks are presented as much as the artworks themselves also transform the café space into an unconventional coffee shop.

The artist with Java Café wait staff dressed as curators

Info Artist Bio, CV, Artwork Details

Bio

www. studio-revolt.com

Performance artist, writer and global agitator, Anida Yoeu Ali is a first generation Muslim Khmer woman born in Cambodia and raised in Chicago. Utilizing an interdisciplinary approach to artmaking, her installation and performance works investigate the artistic, spiritual and political collisions of a hybrid transnational identity. From the Faroe Islands to the Bronx, Copenhagen to Ho Chi Minh City, Anida lectures, exhibits and performs internationally—mixing together movement, multimedia, and personal narratives. Her pioneering work with the critically acclaimed group “I Was Born With Two Tongues (1998-2003)” is archived with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program.

Her artistic work has been the recipient of grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, the National Endowment of the Arts and the Illinois Arts Council.

Anida earned her B.F.A. in Graphic Design from University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) and an M.F.A. in Studio Arts/Performance from School of the Art Institute Chicago. She is a collaborative partner with Studio Revolt, an independent artist run collaborative media lab in Phnom Penh, Cambodia where she currently resides. Anida is a recipient of the 2011 U.S. Fulbright Fellowship to Cambodia where her art and research focused on creation mythologies and birthing stories of Khmer women. Her short film about exiled Cambodian Americans, “My Asian Americana (2011),” won the public vote for the White House “What’s Your Story” Video Challenge. Her poetry and performance featured in “1700% Project: Mistaken for Muslim (2010)” won the grand prize award for LinkTV’s One Chicago One Nation film competition. “The Buddhist Bug Project,” her most ambitious body of work exploring issues of otherness within diasporic identity, is set to premiere at the Singapore International Photo Festival (2012).

True to her Sagittarius fire sign and mixed heritage upbringing, Anida never gets bored.

She believes life is in constant evolution and complacency kills creativity. On her days off she enjoys eating ice cream with her family near Phnom Penh’s riverfront.

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CV/Resume (selected listings) Anida 1974 1996 2005

2010

Yoeu Ali Born in Battambang, Cambodia BFA (Graphic Design), University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL USA Southeast Asian Studies Summer Institute (Khmer Language), University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI USA MFA (Performance), School of the Art Institute, Chicago, IL USA

Languages English, Khmer Awards / Grants / Residencies 2012 Beyond Pressure Festival Residency, Yangon, Mynamar 2012 Artist-in-Residence at Canvas (Teo+Namfah Gallery), Phnom Penh 2012 Artist-in-Residence at JavaArts, Phnom Penh 2012 Finalist for White House AAPI What’s Your Story Video Challenge

for “My Asian Americana” 2011 U.S. Fulbright Fellowship, Creation Mythology Research Project, Cambodia 2010 Grand Prize Award for Link Tv’s One Chicago, One Nation Video Contest

for “1700% Project: Mistaken for Muslim” 2010 Foundation for Independent Media Festival Tribute “Memory Into Flesh:

The Performance and Activism of Anida Yoeu Ali” The Film Center, Chicago 2009 SE Asia Resource Action Center 30 year Gala Keynote, San Francisco 2007 Depaul University’s Human Rights Education Performance Commission 2006-7 “Butoh Ritual Mexicano” dance residency with Diego Piñon, Mexico 2005-6 “Mixin’ It Up: Voices, Stories & Perspectives” commission for Field Museum 2003-4 Dance Theater Workshop “Mekong Project” Residency, Cambodia/Thailand 2003 Insight Arts’ Creative Moments Award in Spoken Word, Chicago, IL 2003 Suitcase Fund grant for “Pushing Through Borders” Project, Vietnam 2003 Ford Foundation US delegation to Asian Director’s Theatre Festival, India

Solo Exhibitions / Screenings / Performances 2012 “Buddhist Bug Project,” Singapore International Photo Festival 3, Singapore “The Public Square” at Our City Festival 2012, Phnom Penh “The Space Between Inside/Outside,” Java Café & Gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia “Belonging to None” Performance Substation, Singapore “Nite of Revolt (Singapore),” Studio Revolt Film Screenings at Objectifs, Singapore “The Naked Truth” 90.0FM CambodiaTalk Radio Performance, Phnom Penh 2011 “BODY Series” Featured Poet at Meta House, Phnom Penh “Gallery X Psar Kandal” public art and exhibition, Our City Festival 2011, Phnom Penh “Gallery X Mosque Dhiya Uddin” public art and exhibition, Battambang “Nite of Revolt II: Studio Revolt Film Screenings” at Meta House, Phnom Penh “Nite of Revolt I: Studio Revolt Film Screenings” at Sammaki Gallery & Phare Ponleu Selpak “Nite of Revolt I: Film Screenings” at Meta House, Phnom Penh 2010 “The Body In Crisis: Islam, Hybridity and Acts Of Confession” Univ. of Wisconsin Lacrosse “On the Cusp of Phoenix Rising” performance, SERCAAL 2010, Florida “1700% Project: Otherance” Performance & Installation Sullivan Galleries, Chicago “The Body is a Temple: Sacred Acts of Confession” Performance & Lecture at DePaul “On the Cusp of Phoenix Rising” performance, The Loft, Minneapolis “The Body is a Temple” Performance at Manifest, Columbia College “On the Cusp of Phoenix Rising” performance, Mojo’s Pen feature, Chicago

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Group Exhibitions / Screenings / Performances 2012 “Power & Resistance” Smack Mellon, New York City, USA “Care Package” Twelve Gates Arts, Philadelphia, PA USA “On Pins and Needles” The Philippine Women’s University SFAD Gallery, Manila “Chains of Love/Ties that Blind: Shadows of Empire” Oceanside Museum Art, CA “Troubling Borders Southeast Asian Women in the Diaspora” UCR Sweeney

Art Gallery, CA USA “Global Hybrid II: Free Your Minds Festival” MetaHouse, Phnom Penh

Lectures / Workshops / Panels 2013 “Legacy of Now” Panel on Cambodian Diaspora Artists, NYU, New York

2011 “Global Hybrid I” MetaHouse, Phnom Penh

2012 “Transcending the Ordinary: Narrative Iterations of the Buddhist Bug Project”

Artist Talk, Singapore Art Museum “In Conversation” Artist Talk, Java Arts, Phnom Penh, Cambodia “Presenting Studio Revolt” Objectifs Artist Screening & Presentation, Singapore “Making Art in Cambodia” Visiting Artist Lecture, NYU Tisch Asia, Singapore “Making Art in Cambodia” Visiting Artist Lecture, SOTA School of the Arts, Singapore “Surveying Contemporary Feminist Art in Cambodia” Java Arts, Phnom Penh

2010 “Text off the Page” Group Exhibition, feat. “In Transience” & “Palimpsest for

Generation 1.5” performance and installation, Betty Rymer Gallery, Chicago

2011 “Enter the Stream at the Turn: Performance Art in Cambodia” Symposium

Presentation, SaSa Bassac Gallery, Phnom Penh

2009 Graduate Students Group Exhibition, feat. “Buddhist Bug Project (Phase 1: Wood)”

performance and video installation, Sullivan Galleries, Chicago Art Action Group, “1000 Inches” performance & Installation at River Park (Chicago) “The Walk” Fashion Show feat. “Meditation of the Furies” Sullivan Galleries, Chicago

2010 “Spilling Ink For Blood” Writing Workshop University of Florida (Gainesville) “Post-9/11. Post-racial? WTF!” Visiting Artist Lecture, Univ. of Wisconsin-Lacrosse “Keyword: Violence” Guest Lecture for Graduate Students, Northwestern University “Iteration, Utterance, and Otherness: Engaging the Politics of Performance,

Access & Audience” MFA Thesis Lecture, School of the Art Institute Chicago “Anti-Asian American Violence and Media Images” Guest Lecture for

Asian American Studies, University of Illinois (Chicago) “Corporealities, Art, and Violence Roundtable” Symposium Panelist:

Frames of Violence, University of Minnesota “Voicing Resistance: Women’s Spirituality, Activism, and Social Justice” Keynote Performance & Lecture, DePaul University

2008 3 Minute Turns, “Milk Offering” 2M Performance Space, Chicago Looptopia, “Chador Offering” Part of “Ghostlight” performance installations directed

by Dexter Bullard, Chicago May 2, 2008 “Meditation on 3 Prayers” 012 Columbus Space, Chicago “Wudu Offering” 2M Performance Space, Chicago 58

Publications / Catalogs / Press (Selected) 2012 Exhibition Catalog,“The Space Between Inside/Outside,” JavaArts, Phnom Penh, 2012 Gleeson, Sean.“How A Little Red Stool Inspired Exhibition.” Phnom Penh Post 7Days.

July 6-12, 2012 Gleeson, Sean. “Java’s Artist-in-Residence displays Surreal Scenes.” Phnom Penh Post.

July 2, 2012 Meyn, Colin. “Outside the White Cube.” Cambodia Daily. June 30- July 1, 2012 Naji, Cassandra. “Art Out of The Box.” The Advisor. Issue 27 Sloan, Michael. “The Two of Us.” AsiaLIFE Cambodia. June 2012 Jay, Phoenix. “Agent Provocateur: Political Agitation as Performance Art”

The Advisor. Issue 12 Montaño, Diana. “Royal Lends Voice to Returnees.” Phnom Penh Post. 4/4/12.

Giant Robot News Staff. “Did White House Reject My Asian Americana Video

Because It Hit a Political Nerve?” Giant Robot. 4/24/12.

Esquivel, Paloma. “Filmmakers ‘appalled’ by process in White House video contest.”

LA Times. 4/23/12.

Rivas, Jorge. “Deportation Video Wins White House Contest, But Disappears.”

Colorlines. 4/11/12 Montaño, Diana. “Deportee Video Wins Accolades.” Phnom Penh Post. 2/22/12 Schlunds-Vials, Cathy. War, Genocide, and Justice: Cambodian American

Memory Work. University of Minnesota Press 2012 “Palimpsest for Generation 1.5,” Southeast Asian Women in the Diaspora:

Troubling Borders Ed. Isabelle Pelaud, Temple Press 2012 2011 “1700% Project: Mistaken for Muslim” Distribution on DVD for the following collections: Asian American Literary Review: 10th Anniversary of Sept. 11th DVD Collection, Volume 1: Women’s Voices from the Muslim World DVD Collection, and 21/21 Chicago DVD Anthology (Partner Dance Press)

Community & Collaborative Experience 2010-Present Studio Revolt Osaka, Chicago & Phnom Penh Creative Partner A collaborative media lab co-founded and run with Masahiro Sugano. Studio Revolt works with local Cambodians and deported artists on narrative based projects in film, video, and performance.

2002-2007 YAWP! Young Asians With Power Chicago, IL Founder, Teaching Artist & Mentor YAWP! is a summer writing program serving Asian American youth between the ages of 13-19 years old. Over the course of 8 weeks, YAWP! students cultivated their creative voices and leadership skills by learning more about their history and identity through readings, performance exercises, and creative writing prompts.

2000-2006 Mango Tribe Productions Chicago & New York City Founder, Artistic Director & Producer Mango Tribe is an APIA women’s performance collective that promotes multi-arts collaboration and encourages activism through theater and education.

2001-2006 Asian American Artists Collective – Chicago (AAAC) Chicago, IL Founder & Executive Director AAAC is a collaborative network of diverse Asian American voices dedicated to artistic development, support, and empowerment. Through the arts, AAAC works to confront, subvert and disrupt stereotypes, discrimination, prejudice, and oppression from the outside and inside of our communities.

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List of Works* Photographs released in limited editions of 5, in 3 varying sizes. Also for Institutional print sizes, please inquire further *For price list inquire with Dana Langlois, Java Arts Director

Contact: dana@javaarts.org Tel +855 12 894 180 p. 8 & 9 Giant Red Stool

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Mixed Media Installation Stool: 1.5m (high), 1m X 1m (base) Lightbox Base: 2m X 2m X 20 cm p.10 Vertigo Dress

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2012 Mixed Media Installation dimensions varied Dress: 6m in radius, 2.5m tall p. 12 & 13 Red Naga Dress

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2012 Mixed Media Installation dimensions varied Dress: 20m in length

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p. 14 & 15 View From Here

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2012 Interactive Mixed Media Installation dimensions varied for 4 Tables, 8 stools, frames, & floor 2 Tables at 60cm (high), 60cm square 2 Tables at 55cm (high), 60cm square p. 16 & 17 You Got Served (Enter the Curators) សមមុខអ្នកហើយ (ចូលជាមួយអ្នករៀបចំពិព័ណ៌)

2012 Durational Performance p. 18 Enter The Wind

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p. 22 Enter the Field #2 / Dream Pose

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2012 Digital C-print Print Sizes: 25cm x 38cm, 50cm x 76cm, or 100cm x 151cm p. 23 Enter the Field #3 / Lift Pose

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2012 Digital C-print Print Sizes: 25cm x 38cm, 50cm x 76cm, or 100cm x 151cm p. 24 & 25 Daydreaming Inside the Past (Street 98)

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2012 9min, HD Video, single channel (loop)

2012 Digital C-print Print Sizes: 141cm x 25cm, 281cm x 50cm, or 563cm x 100cm

p. 19 Enter The Field (A Dance)

p. 26 & 27 Enter Without an Exit Plan (Street 98)

2012 8min, HD Video, single channel (loop)

2012 Digital C-print Print Sizes: 59cm x 25cm, 117cm x 50cm, or 235cm x 100cm

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p. 20 & 21 Enter the Field#1 / Arch Pose

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2012 Digital C-print Print Sizes: 194cm x 25cm, 389cm x 50cm , or 775cm x 100cm

ដើរចូលដោយគ្មានគម្រោងសម្រាប់ពេលចេញវិញ

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p. 28 & 29 I Want Coconut/She Needs Ice Coffee (Street 49)#1

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2012 Digital C-print Print Sizes: 141cm x 25cm, 281cm x 50cm, or 563cm x 100cm

p. 30 & 31 The Fiery Rose (of BoeungKak Lake) #1

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2012 Digital C-print Print Sizes:131cm x 25cm, 263cm x 50cm, or 526cm x 100cm p. 32 & 33 The Fiery Rose (of BoeungKak Lake) Grey Wall#2 កូលាបភ្លើង (របស់បឹងកក់) ជញ្ជាំងប្រផេះ ២

2012 Digital C-print Print Sizes: 74cm x 25cm, 147cm x 50cm, or 295cm x 100cm p. 34 Enter the Ruins #1

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2012 Digital C-print Print Sizes: 25cm x 38cm, 50cm x 76cm, or 100cm x 151cm p. 35 Enter the Ruins (BoeungKak Lake)#2

enAkñúgkEnøgvinas ¬bwgkk;¦elxTI2

2012 Digital C-print Print Sizes: 25cm x 38cm, 50cm x 76cm, or 100cm x 151cm

p. 36 Enter the Lot #1 ដើរចូលដី ១

2012 Digital C-print Print Sizes: 25cm x 38cm, 50cm x 76cm, or 100cm x 151cm p. 37 Enter the Lot (Stung Meanchey) ដើរចូលដី (ស្ទឹងមានជ័យ)

2012 Digital C-print Print Sizes: 38cm x 25cm, 76cm x 50cm, or 151cm x 100cm p. 38 Enter the Red Wind / Naga #1

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2012 Digital C-print Print Sizes: 38cm x 25cm, 76cm x 50cm, or 151cm x 100cm p. 39 Enter the Red Wind / Horizon

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p. 40 Enter the Red Wind / Loop

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2012 Digital C-print Print Sizes: 38cm x 25cm, 76cm x 50cm, or151cm x 100cm p. 41 Enter the Red Wind / Flower Petal

cUlkñúgxül;B’NRkhm ¼ ស្រទាប់ផ្កា

2012 Digital C-print Print Sizes: 38cm x 25cm, 76cm x 50cm, or151cm x 100cm p. 42 Enter the Red Wind / Splatter

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2012 Digital C-print Print Sizes: 38cm x 25cm, 76cm x 50cm, or151cm x 100cm p. 43 Enter the Red Wind / Curve

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2012 Digital C-print Print Sizes: 38cm x 25cm, 76cm x 50cm, or151cm x 100cm

2012 Digital C-print Print Sizes: 38cm x 25cm, 76cm x 50cm, or 151cm x 100cm

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A Note of Gratitude from the Artist Any kind of “solo” show is a misnomer because it always requires a team of people behind the scenes to pull everything together. I work collaboratively. My works require the orchestration of a team of people to realize an idea. Without the people around me, my vision will fail. It is amongst people and with my surrounding environment that my ideas begin to take shape and ultimately actualized. “The Space Between Inside/Outside” is an exhibition pulled together by individuals who contributed their time, skills, talent and resources toward my vision. I am deeply thankful to the following people listed below.

Vinh Dao (Photography/Post-Production) Friends Sewing Workshop led by Srun Srey Peou (Garment Construction) Studio Revolt Masahiro Sugano Vath Tho Sentosa Mam Ryan Tong Champa Kim

Java Arts Dana Langlois Natalie Pace La Sros Nghet Leakhena …and the entire Java Café staff

Coffee Shop on St. 49: Chea Thaing, Heng Sovanna, Loung Maly, Phea Sopheak, Oy Sophea, Pov Vanna, Ngou Sokhon, Nyou Sopheap, San Virek, and Kun Saaw (Coconut Vendor) BoeungKak Lake kids: Mam Khah, Ly Saay, Ahn Miknea Additional thanks to Pierrette Van Cleve, SPK Printing, Shelby Doyle, Kate O’Hara, Haniz Yasin and Heng Hangry

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Participants of “Enter the Studio, Enter the Frame” Open Studio week: Anna Tuyen Tran Bruno Schell Calvin Yang Cassandrita Naji Chanborey Soy Chean Long Cheat Reak Sa Cheng Sok Chea Chewy & Danser Cheychanrith Hou Clara Bradley Dana Langlois Diana Montaño Eli & Cameron Shapiro Elizabeth & Ly Kol Eric Ellul Fleur Smith John Shapiro John Weeks Kate O’Hara

Khiang Hei Kosal Khiev La Sros Leana Taing Lyta Vorn Sethy Mao Pisey Masahiro Sugano Meas Reaksmey Meas Sar Reaj Minara & Qatari Sugano Mony Thach Muyhong Chan Natalie Pace Nget Leakena Nic Grey Nora Lindström Greg Pellechi Nour & Ziyi Yassin Phany Tum Prin Sophanit

Rattana & Daline Un Reaksmey Yean Roger Nelson Ruta Kuzminskaite Sarah & Cora Andrew Sébastien Marot Seng Botum Shelby Doyle Sok Visal Sokuntevy Oeur Soma Norodom Sophea Hang Sophea Om Sue McCauley Sum Sithen Todd Brown Vinh Dao Ya Morinin Yang Yanna

Photography: Vinh Dao, Chean Long, Masahiro Sugano + Anida Yoeu Ali Design: AYA Designs Gallery Contact Dana Langlois Java Arts 56 Sihanouk Blvd.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia email: dana@javaarts.org Tel +855 12 894 180

Š JavaArts 2012 Text copyright Š the authors, Images courtesy of the artist All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any storage or retrieval system, without prior permission from the copyright holders and publishers.

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