The “Landscapes afterwar(d) program is associated with a series of special events aimed at questioning the memory of places marked by extreme violence and its consequences from a historical, anthropological and aesthetic perspective.
This academic and artistic meeting at the Center for Khmer Studies brings us to take a step back and reflect/discuss upon three artworks: Silence and Yell by Svay Sareth, Turbulence by Anne Aghion, and Double Crossing by participants of the workshop “Memory and Landscape”
In Silence and Yell, Svay Sareth represents himself in the middle of a lotus flower and in the form of a camouflaged sculpture. This preparation refers to his childhood in a refugee camp but also call to an act of resistance and resilience when confronted with the extreme. Double Crossing is a two-channel video installation confronting Phnom Penh under the Khmer Rouge to contemporary Phnom Penh, contrasting empty and full spaces. Anne Aghion’s Turbulence exhumes her inhibited memories by evoking distant landscapes of monsoon countries. Together they invite us to consider the work of remembrance and landscape reconstruction.
