Changes in the Cambodian Contemporary Art Scene and tiSamjort’s Community-Centred Vision

Cambodia’s contemporary art scene has transformed significantly since the Southeast Asian nation’s post-war reconstruction era in the 1990s and 2000s. While the 2010s have been characterised as a vital moment for the visual arts, recently the landscape has shifted and seen the sunset of some core institutions. Writer and arts researcher Say Tola and visual artists Neak Sophal, Tan Vatey and Sao Sreymao founded tiSamjort at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, in part responding to this shifting landscape. Wary of the label ‘collective’ and even more apprehensive about being labelled a ‘women’s artist collective’, tiSamjort takes advantage of equivocality. Translated as ‘resting place’ in English, tiSamjort is both the name of their group and the space they offer to artists and cultural workers in the heart of Phnom Penh.

Located on the first floor of a shophouse in the Psar Duy Mech neighbourhood, tiSamjort’s titular space is accessible through a narrow residential alley. Designed for dense urban areas, tiSamjort’s space is a one-bedroom apartment converted into a welcoming atmosphere for creative endeavours. The foyer doubles as a kitchen that connects to a narrow hallway flanked on one side by a conjoining wall shared with the neighbouring building, and on the other by a bedroom: its ceiling low to accommodate a loft area above. The hallway lets out into a rectangular living room that functions as a gallery, co-working space and education studio, as needed. The space is completed by a balcony that overlooks the alley. tiSamjort has enabled the apartment to be a place where artists can feel safe and supported. This is particularly important in a country like Cambodia, where art infrastructure is still developing, and practising artists may often feel isolated and lacking institutional support. tiSamjort’s members are deeply committed to ensuring that their space remains one of care, mutual respect and openness.

Five years on from beginning this project, tiSamjort has developed a robust roster of arts education and development programmes while managing to avoid the rigidity of institutionalisation. tiSamjort is a succession of ‘by artists for artists’ organising that has historically sustained contemporary art and cultural networks in Cambodia, especially since the early 2010s. While past national and artistic discussions focused on themes of rebirth, reconstruction and progress, tiSamjort is however proposing ‘rest’ as a point of departure for growth and community care.

Mid-career art workers, the four founding members of tiSamjort took distinct paths to the arts that shape their respective practices and shared work. Spanning journalism, photography, interdisciplinary experimentation and community-focused art, their diverse interests converge at a shared commitment to storytelling, social engagement and the ever-evolving cultural landscape of Cambodia. Together, they bring a dynamic interplay of perspectives that address urgent issues of the present, such as environmental sustainability and development on local scales, through the lenses of personal and national histories.

Tola (b. 1996) studied international relations at the Paññāsāstra University of Cambodia in Phnom Penh. Her trajectory in the arts began when she participated in the inaugural year of Cambodian Living Arts (CLA)’s university course, ‘Arts for Transformation’ in 2017.⁰¹ The primary objective of the course was to engage international students with Cambodia while underscoring the role of the arts in the nation’s recovery, and its applicability to other post-war contexts.⁰² The course’s domestic implementation, in which Tola participated, covered similar themes and culminated in a conference on memory and healing at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh.⁰³ Tola subsequently worked at the Khmer Times as an arts journalist from 2017 to 2019, where she was given the freedom to pursue her own storylines.⁰⁴ Since then, she has held roles in administration, research and writing at arts and cultural institutions in the country and region.

Sophal (b. 1989) studied graphic design at the Royal University of Fine Arts (RUFA) in Phnom Penh. The interdisciplinary environment of RUFA and the support of her teachers encouraged her interest in other art forms.⁰⁵ She enrolled in a photography short course at the French Institute in 2010 and it quickly became her preferred medium. She favoured photography because of its ability to ‘encapsulate a story with one click’.⁰⁶ Her practice has been stimulated by the political currents that run through the world around her, by the domestic experiences of family, and from within herself.⁰⁷ Sophal noted that ‘art is the voice that speaks about the truth… even if the way [artists] speak isn’t very obvious’.⁰⁸

Sophal’s first solo exhibition, ‘Leaf’ (Romeet Gallery, Phnom Penh, 2013), and her most recent, ‘Treasure’ (FT Gallery, The Factory, Phnom Penh, 2022), demonstrate the growth of her practice over a decade. The Leaf series features portraits of children from her hometown province of Takeo, photographed with their faces concealed by lush green leaves. During a visit, children followed Sophal around curious about what she was doing with her camera, and at one point one of the children held a leaf in front of his face, prompting the series.⁰⁹ Through their mutual curiosity – Sophal as the artist turning her camera’s lens back on the community where she grew-up, and the children inquisitive about the unusual presence of the artist – they co-produced the premise of the images with playfulness and joy.

The Treasure series employs a similar visual strategy to Leaf. Treasure includes 24 portraits of Cambodian farmers set among the backdrop of their daily environment and a short video documenting rural life across three provinces.¹⁰ Although the subjects of these images are all adults, the portraits, like those of the children in Leaf, capture the subject head-on with their faces concealed, this time by amorphously cut gold paper. In each image, the same paper appears as a horizontal golden strip at chest height behind the subject, extending beyond either side of the portrait’s frame. In all the portraits, the sitter holds a natural material in their hands pertinent to their livelihood. While the vegetal props in Leafecho the playfulness of her engagement with the children, the natural materials held in the seasoned hands of the farmers in Treasure index labor and survival. The two series illustrate the evolution of her practice over the past decade, as she stages more complex stories through portraiture.

Vatey (b. 1992) has been an artist since childhood, participating in regional art competitions.¹¹ Later in life, she studied interior design at RUFA and SETEC Institute.¹² Presently, she describes herself as an interdisciplinary artist experimenting with ‘play and poetic curiosity’.¹³ Her work spans drawing, watercolour, sculpture, installation and audience-activated pieces. Her most recent exhibition, ‘Meet Me Where Anything Can Be Everything’ (Rosewood Phnom Penh, 2024), with artist Dahlia Phirun, exemplifies the inviting whimsey she brings to her work.

The exhibition featured 73 objects, three of which were paintings co-created by the two artists. As with her work elsewhere, Vatey’s contributions to the exhibition ranged across a variety of mediums. She contributed colourful amorphous paintings that defied the boundaries of their  paper, seeping into the framed images’ matting barrier; similar to the tradition of the readymade, she adorned a set of eight personal-sized mirrors with the same fluidity of colour seen in her works on paper; and she created a sculpture of a metallic blue banana emerging from its platform and seeming to ooze unknown green and yellow substances. The formless array of colours in these artworks point to the dynamism that underpins her practice, continually asking the viewer to be unsettled to the limitless variety life has to offer.

Sreymao (b. 1986) graduated from Phare Ponleu Selpak’s School of Visual and Applied Arts in Battambang with a focus on painting in 2006.¹⁴ She began her career as a mural painter in Siem Reap and later worked with an NGO supporting communities living along the Mekong River. Throughout this latter work she documented the communities with photography. Her first exhibition in 2008, ‘Memories’ at Meta House with Bophana Center, Phnom Penh, addressed women’s issues and the environment. In the years following, she felt uncertain about moving forward as an artist.¹⁵ Believing that vulnerable communities needed books more than art, she shifted to illustration and book design while taking a hiatus from her art practice.¹⁶ Even during this gap, she continued sketching.¹⁷

In 2016, she joined Sa Sa Art Projects’ contemporary art class, which broadened her understanding of how art could address community issues and strengthened her belief in the power of storytelling through art.¹⁸ Though she had explored this before, the class helped her express it more clearly in her work.¹⁹ After graduating, her practice increasingly focused on Cambodian development and environmental issues, reconnecting her with the community work she had done along the Mekong. Over time, her sketches and photography merged and developed into the style of her images in the Under the Water series, inspired by her earlier work with the NGO. Exhibited at Sa Sa Art Projects, Phnom Penh in 2018 and MIRAGE Contemporary Art Space, Siem Reap in 2019, these images illustrate displaced fishing communities using digital sketches on photos of the lands they called home. In her recent series Reconstructing I (2024), she expanded this visual language to mixed-media sculptures that incorporate wire, white cement and painting on photographs Six years on from Under the Water, Reconstructing I continues to address the pressing issues of development and environmental degradation taking place in a new decade.²⁰

Through their distinct practices touching writing, photography, painting, installation and mixed media, tiSamjort’s members embrace complex storytelling through art as a means of connection, with an emphasis on audience participation. These elements of their individual practices form the foundations of their shared project, tiSamjort. Their methods of artist-led, community-engaged art organising in particular can be read in the context of the broader narratives of contemporary art in the country.

Recent Histories of Cambodian Art and tiSamjort’s Contemporaries

Now, we have so many talented young artists, but we’ve lost the good galleries. Entertainment galleries have replaced professional ones, leaving young artists feeling lost, with less creative freedom and a greater focus on making money. – Tan Vatey²¹

Vatey’s reflection on the current state of the Cambodian art scene stands in stark contrast to the account penned by Southeast Asian cultural historian Joanna Wolfarth just under a decade ago. Wolfarth highlights that the arts began to recover by the late 1990s and they were thriving by the 2010s.²² Some of the most notable institutions of these decades include the Reyum Institute of Arts and Culture, Java Arts, as well as Sa Sa Bassac, which was co-founded by Erin Gleeson and the artist collective Stiev Selapak. As was Sa Sa Art Projects, a sister organisation to Sa Sa Bassac run by Stiev Selapak. Also prominent on the scene were CLA, Phare Ponleu Selpak and Romeet Gallery, the latter focused on exhibiting artists from Battambang. Together with other less formal initiatives, these institutions constituted a vibrant arts ecosystem that spanned publishing, arts education, exhibitions, community spaces and commercial galleries.

The fervour of the 2010s emerged out of the reconstruction period of Cambodia in the 1990s and early 2000s, itself preceded by U.S. bombing (1965–73), civil war (1970–75), the Khmer Rouge regime (1975–79) and the Vietnamese occupation (1979–89).²³ Often characterised by the United Nations Transitional Authority’s involvement in reinstituting political governance, the reconstruction period also featured the arrival of foreign aid workers who fueled a domestic art market.²⁴ This coincided with national discourses on ‘the rebirth of Cambodian arts’ as a method of the rebuilding project.²⁵ Reflecting on the ‘regime of representation of “Cambodian contemporary art”’ from 1990–2010, art historian Pamela Corey suggests that ‘trauma art’, motivated by curatorial frameworks oriented toward healing and reconciliation dominated arts programming on local and international stages.²⁶ However, Corey contends that the need for a post-war rebirth of Cambodian arts had become obsolete with Cambodian artists participating in international presentations such as documenta 13 (2012) in Kassel, Germany and the 2013 Seasons of Cambodia festival organised by CLA in New York City.²⁷ Likewise, artistic production in Cambodia began to branch into new conceptual and experimental directions, commonly associated with Stiev Selapak.²⁸

Founded in 2007, Stiev Selapak included artists Heng Ravuth, Khvay Samnang, Kong Vollak, Lim Sokchanlina, Vandy Rattana and Vuth Lyno.²⁹ In addition to peer-to-peer mentorship, these six artists set out to create ‘a Cambodian independent art structure’ that would enable them ‘to take ownership of Cambodian narratives’.³⁰ One of their most notable projects was founding Sa Sa Art Projects in 2010 and operating it as an experimental arts education hub and incubator with a community-engaged framework until its closure in 2024.³¹ Sa Sa Art Projects was one of the most high-profile artist-led initiatives in Cambodia that conscientiously traversed scales of local and international arts programming while championing a community-engaged approach that insisted ‘ideas must originate from locals’.³² This was in part a resistance to the NGO-driven frameworks that dominated the period from 1990 to 2010 described above.³³

Like many arts scenes across the globe, communities in Cambodia are interconnected, and the founders of Stiev Selapak and tiSamjort are colleagues and friends. In the early phase of launching their space in 2021, tiSamjort participated in Pin-Lobby, a virtual workshop series led by artist Francisco Camacho Herrera with curator Ana Sophie Salazar, in partnership with Sa Sa Art Projects, focusing on the intersections of art practice, social issues and urban settings; there, the group shared and received feedback on the branding and concept of ‘the resting place’.³⁴ A year later, in 2022, tiSamjort exhibited their first group show, ‘Threshold’, at Sa Sa Art Projects. Additionally, tiSamjort hosted Wa Lone and Htet Moe Yan for Sa Sa Art Projects’s 2023 Pisaot residency program, which offered local and international artists an opportunity to live and work in Phnom Penh.³⁵  These exchanges and collaborations reflect the broader convivial relationships and rich intellectual traditions of artist-led arts organising, in which tiSamjort plays a vital role.

The recent closure of Sa Sa Art Projects (2010–24) marks the latest in a series of significant contemporary art spaces in Cambodia to cease operations, following the earlier closures of Sa Sa Bassac (2011–18), Romeet Gallery (2010–15), and Reyum (1998–2010).³⁶ According to the members of tiSamjort, the arts ecosystem now is a decidedly different landscape than when they began their careers.³⁷ Just as Sa Sa Art Projects provided an arts development service to their community, responding to the tides of the time, tiSamjort has become a haven for artists fitting the third decade of the new millennium. Whereas earlier national and arts discourses centred ideas of rebirth, reconstruction and progress, tiSamjort is proposing something fundamentally different: rest.

Community Engagement through Care Work

After we created tiSamjort, both men and women began visiting our space. We started hearing that we had created a safe space, especially for women, where they could connect with this tribe, feel at home, find support, courage and guidance. While we mention two genders, we also have nonbinary artists. Our space is not just safe for one gender but for all genders, where everyone feels welcome. – Sao Sreymao³⁸

During the COVID-19 pandemic, when physical exhibitions and large gatherings became challenging, the founding members of tiSamjort collectively self-financed the space to accommodate their own art practices; over time, they opened it up to other arts and cultural workers. Informally, the space is available to their extended network of arts and cultural workers who need accommodation in Phnom Penh. For example, Medha, the all-women traditional drum troupe based in Siem Reap frequently stay at tiSamjort when performing in the capital city. Similarly, when other artists from the provinces come to Phnom Penh for workshops, trainings or other events, tiSamjort is open to them. In this way it also functions as a community space for artists from the provinces, relieving their financial burdens to accessing arts events in Phnom Penh.

Reflecting on emerging artists who visit tiSamjort, Sreymao notes, ‘Young artists come here, and they have questions to ask. They grab a pillow and ask all their questions… I’m sitting here answering. Sometimes I don’t know if it’s sharing or therapy.’³⁹ tiSamjort is a place for artists to check in with each other, share their experiences and find support during difficult times. Rather than adopting a traditional mentorship model, tiSamjort prefers to frame their relationships with younger artists as one of simply ‘sharing’. Tola explains, ‘We’re not here to mentor anyone. We’re here to share our experiences, our thoughts and our space. It’s more of a friendship than a top-down relationship.’ This approach fosters an environment where younger artists feel empowered to explore their own creative journeys, knowing they have the support of their peers. This ethos of care permeates all aspects of their work and interactions with community members.

tiSamjort’s network of collaborators includes people of different genders; however, their space provides specifically a safe space for women. When a woman artist visits tiSamjort and a male artist would also like to stay, they first check with her to see if she is comfortable with it.⁴⁰ In this regard, Vatey notes, ‘As a women’s space, women are feeling safer. There’s a respectful energy. Not the macho energy.’ To this point, Sreymao adds, ‘It’s interesting to call [this] a women’s collective space. It doesn’t sound as dangerous as a [men’s] collective space.’⁴¹

In the early days of their artistic careers, the members of tiSamjort highlighted that it was in some ways a more difficult time to be a woman and an artist. Sreymao recalled that sometimes when she received work as an illustrator, she heard the criticism that she only got the work because she was a woman, rather than for her hard work and talent.⁴² Speaking on the societal experience of being a woman and how it impacts one’s artwork, Tola stated, ‘Women artists’ work is different than men, they have different perspectives… Women are subjected to being responsible for household work. In our society, household work is not as important as other work, so gender brings in a different perspective. [Women artists] are the voice for other women.’

While tiSamjort acknowledges the importance of gender, they do not allow it to define their work. Despite being recognised as one of Cambodia’s first all-femme contemporary art collectives, tiSamjort is more concerned with the shared creative energy and values that bind them together than with their gender. As Sreymao and Vatey mention, there is both discomfort and empowerment in being labelled a ‘female’ collective, but ultimately, their work speaks for itself, transcending the limitations or expectations often associated with gender in the art world. By creating a space where gender does not define the scope of their creativity or collaboration, tiSamjort has shown that art can be a tool for empowerment, not just for women but for all artists who seek to challenge norms and create meaningful connections. Their work continues to serve as an inspiring example of how collective action and shared vision can lead to real change in both the art world and society at large.

Community Engagement through Programmes

In addition to the care work that their relationships and space provide, tiSamjort has developed a dynamic range of programmes that connect diverse audiences to the arts in Phnom Penh and in the provinces. Likewise, their programmes connect artists to people beyond the immediate social groups of the art initiated. tiSamjort has consistently sought to build lasting connections between artists and the communities they engage. Three pillars of this approach are the NomadiX Art Tour, short-term artist residencies and exhibitions. These programmes are rooted in inclusivity, collaboration, and a deep commitment to the exchange of knowledge, experience and energy.

One of tiSamjort’s earliest projects, NomadiX Art Tour is a traveling interactive workshop series, created to bring awareness and opportunities of arts to people in remote areas of Cambodia. The first tour took place in Kampot and Siem Reap in 2020.⁴³ In the years since, it has traveled to many more provinces. NomadiX Art Tour events are regularly held at Buddhist pagodas which act as centres of Cambodian social connectivity through spiritual, community and cultural bonds.⁴⁴ A typical programme begins with hands-on artist workshops in the morning led by tiSamjort founding members with support from emerging artists like Mech Sereyrath and Mech Choulay, two recent additions to the group; it continues with an afternoon panel discussion on the roles of the arts in society with local leaders such as monks, educators or ministry officials; and concludes in the evening with a performance or film screening.⁴⁵

At their space in Phnom Penh, tiSamjort offers short-term residencies to local and international artists. Unlike when friends and community members drop in for a night or two, artists-in-residence are required to submit a proposal of their intent that outlines the type of support they are seeking.⁴⁶ These residencies allow international artists to experience living in the dense urban housing of one of Phnom Penh’s oldest neighbuorhoods, exchange with local artists, and share their practices with tiSamjort’s neighbours through a public programme. For local artists, the residency serves as a platform for exposure, networking and personal development. While the primary goal is to support the artist’s project, the programme also places great emphasis on facilitating interaction with the local arts and surrounding communities.

The Touch Me, Don’t Forget Me workshop (fig. 13) with artists-in-residence Masumi Rodriguez and Elena Kirby is one such example. Born in the unceded territories of the Squamish, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh peoples in modern Canada, Rodriguez and Kirby spent nearly three weeks living at tiSamjort in 2024. Their residency culminated in a workshop where attendees make their own paper from pulp, following the artists’s sharing on their paper-making practice.⁴⁷ For tiSamjort, this direct involvement with communities is a way to make art more accessible and less intimidating.⁴⁸

A similar approach is taken in tiSamjort’s Open Studio exhibition programme. In 2025, tiSamjort hosted three of these short-term exhibitions featuring work by Cambodian artists Prak Dalin (‘Assemblage’, 6–16 March,), Kong Siden(‘Sands Below’, 20 February – 2 March) and Mech Sereyrath (‘Underneath’, 29 May – 5 June). Reminiscent of Sa Sa Art Projects’ Pisaot residency programme, which acted as a sandbox for artists to experiment, these exhibitions at tiSamjort offer artists the opportunity to discuss new work and share it with visitors. However, beyond the opening night, the shows are only viewable by appointment. A plus side of this method is that it allows tiSamjort to exhibit artists’ work with limited staffing. On the other hand, it adds a barrier for visitors from outside of the community of artists to drop in at their convenience.

Still, the impact of tiSamjort’s community engagement can be seen in the growing trust they have built with their neighbours. Tola shares how, over time, their presence in the Psar Duy Mech neighbourhood has become more accepted. ‘At first, the local commune head was hesitant. He didn’t want to deal with the potential mess we might create… But now, they understand that we are here with good intentions’.⁴⁹ Sreymao emphasised that tiSamjort has always placed a strong emphasis on making art a two-way street: ‘It’s not just about bringing international artists here. It’s about creating an exchange. The artists come with their ideas, but they also learn from the local people’.⁵⁰ The collective’s engagement with the community is not just about hosting events or workshops; it is about being present and creating lasting relationships. They have become an integral part of the local fabric, contributing to the artistic and social life of the neighbourhood.

Conclusion

tiSamjort’s collective approach to art, rooted in collaboration, inclusivity and mutual support, has created a lasting impact on the Cambodian art scene since their formation in 2021. Through its various programmes and collaborative spirit, tiSamjort is creating a unique space within Cambodia’s art ecosystem that bridges artists and communities across the nation. Aligned with the legacies of past artist-led initiatives, tiSamjort also embodies collective care over commercial success and creative freedom over institutional expectations that enable themselves and other artists to engage and reflect the complexities of contemporary Cambodian society. They are an important part of Cambodia’s evolving contemporary art scene, offering a softer and wider approach to artistic practice through community engagement. With more workshops, exhibitions and residencies designed to involve the local population and invite global perspectives into the fold, their focus on community engagement will likely expand. As Vatey puts it, ‘The magic happens when we share energy, when we grow together.’ It is clear that the magic of tiSamjort is only just beginning.