Snapshot from Cambodia

This shot was taken in Banteay Chhmar, a small town in the northwest of Cambodia. I spent a couple of days

there, staying in a simple house and enjoying the peaceful ambiance, compared to sights like Angkor Wat.

While the men here mostly farm the rice paddies, many of the women work at Soieries du Mékong, a silk centre

run as a social project (soieriesdumekong.com). I visited with a local guide who is also a teacher in the town’s

elementary school, and I asked him to help me to communicate with some of the families who survived the

regime of Pol Pot. This lady’s name is Thoeun Tor, and she was weaving a scarf at that moment. I asked her if

I could take a picture, and she said yes. She was lost in thought with the repetitive movements of her silk

yarn, and I stayed there for a while to imagine what she was dreaming about.

DENIZ YILMAZ AKMAN is a writer and travel photographer based in Istanbul photostorming