On Photography Cambodia: Through a story of “the Building” 

This photographic art project explores Phnom Penh ’s past, present and future through the juxtaposition of different photographic perspective – historical, family album, participatory and professional – all of which focus on one subject: the Municipal Apartments at Bassac river front. Project is supported by UNESCO and Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center

The Building, as it is more common known, was part of an ambitious city planning scheme, during the 1960s, for a new Phnom Penh that included low-cost housing and public space.  Today, these origins are betrayed by what the Building’s has come to represent in contemporary Cambodia .  It is both a symbol for the city’s social issues – “development”, dispossession, exclusion and landlessness – but also home to active community members, artists as well as ordinary city dwellers.

On Photography Cambodia: Through a story of “the Building” is also concerned with initiating a conversation on the role of photography in Cambodia and contributing to such a dialogue and reflection internationally.

The project is comprised of four components: collection and production of images, exhibitions, national symposium and publication/archiving.

Collection and production of images
This stage entails the collection and creation of images that use different approaches to photography providing a number of visual perspectives:


historical photos, mainly from the 1960s,
capture the initial vision for the “new” Phnom Penh,
from an architectural perspective 







©CVM

    



family album photos, from the last 25 years,
depict life in the Building through the eyes of its residents

 

 

 

 

 
©OPC 

   


participatory photographic images tell contemporary stories
of the Building from the perspective of first-time photographers. 
As residents of the Building, they have been taught
photography skills and exposed to Phnom Penh’s history by the project.

 

 

  ©OPC/PhotoVoice

 



view-from-the-outside photos convey the Building’s iconic status from the perspective of the professional photographer from Cambodia and elsewhere.

©Chhin Taing Chhea




Exhibitions
The art project culminates in a four-week exhibit in February, 2009 at the Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center .  This will be preceeded by a community exhibition at the Bulding of the images and stories resulting from the participatory photographic projects.  Plans for a travelling exhibition are being developed.

National symposium “On Photography Cambodia: future prospects”
 The exhibition lays the basis for a dialogue and visioning of the future of photography in Cambodia and the launch of the photographic education program.  The project will host a national symposium on photography in Cambodia, planned during the exhibition also in February 2009, which aims to assess the needs and possibilities of photography in Cambodia and to draft an outline of the photographic education program. 

The four-day event is expected to involve Cambodian professional and aspiring photographers; representatives of photo agencies, magazines and the advertising industry, local and international development organisations as well as photographic artists and students. 

Publication and archiving
The results of the project will be captured mainly through two means. First, through the publication of a book of the project.  Secondly, the images collected and created for the project will be archived and become part of the Bhopana Center’s permanent collection that is accessible by the public.

We continue looking for funding to cover the costs of exhibiting the visual arts project, nationally and internationally, and publishin the accompanying book.

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