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THE PHNOM PENH POST â&#x20AC;&#x2039;JUNE 7 - 13, 2013 . ISSUE #199

Off the wall Rise of street art

Vintage prints Golden age posters

Contents

THE PHNOM PENH POST • 7Days • JUNE 7 - 13, 2013

Contributors: Bennett Murray

Publisher: Ross Dunkley

and Julius Thiemann

Telephone: +855 23 214 311

Copy Editor: Emily Geminder

7Days Editor: Poppy McPherson Designer: Valinda Aim Contributing Editors: Rosa Ellen Cover Photo: Scott Howes (taken and Claire Knox

at Slur Bar)

Post Media Ltd. Level 8, No. 888, Building F, The Phnom Penh Centre, Cnr Sothearos Blvd. and Sihanouk Blvd., Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Website: www.phnompenhpost.com/7days/ www.phnompenhpost.com/7days/whatson © Copyright Post Media Limited The title 7Days, in either English or Khmer languages, its associated logos or devices and the contents of this publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written consent of Post Media Limited. 7Days is a wholly owned publication of Post Media Limited and appears as an insert to The Phnom Penh Post. It is an integral part of the newspaper and must not be sold separately. 7Days is printed by Post

Story

One of Phnom Penh’s quirkiest homes is on display in this week’s issue. pha lina

Commercial Printing and all liability for the content is taken by the publisher.

The street art scene in Phnom Penh is small but growing. Here, two Cambodian artists leave their mark on Paris. PHOTO SUPPLIED

Editor’s letter: Graphic glory Poppy mcpherson

He tells us what the perfect Cambodian manga would be, why women are drawn to his week is all about iconic the art, and why the Kingdom is bound to prints. Japanese cartoons, the bold embrace its charms. shapes of Cambodian street art, Another endearing arts fan is featured in our and vintage golden era glamour all story on vintage cinema posters. feature on these pages. His passion for golden era film has taken In what is perhaps our most heart-warming him all over the region, in search of classic seven questions yet, we meet the man who has prints. opened up Phnom Penh’s first manga café – on For our cover story this week, I met the one of the city’s seediest streets – and he turns street artists making waves – and getting on out to be fascinating. the hazier side of the law.

Lisa Mam and Peap Tarr, whose striking patterns cover walls all around the city are the two best known – but is there a hint of an expanding scene? What rules are there, and what happens if you break them? Finally, in the second of our forays into the city’s wackiest and most wonderful houses, we took a look at a different kind of house – one designed to nurture the most therapeutic environment possible. A visual feast – enjoy.

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JUNE 7 - 13, 2013 • 7Days • THE PHNOM PENH POST

in this area at those times. I think our customers will be university students. A manga café is like a library: you come in and pay $2.50 for one hour of reading, $2 for students, and $3 to watch an anime movie.

Quest ion s Kenji Hozawa, a former office worker, was fed up with the mundane “rat race” in Japan. His solution was to start Cambodia’s first manga and anime café – a library and cinema of sorts, where fans could rent their favourite comics or watch the likes of Akira on a wide-screen television. Claire Knox spoke to the bouncy Hozawa about girly interest in manga, literacy and Phnom Penh’s notorious Street 51. What brought you to Cambodia? I moved here in January, from Fukuoka – apparently it is one of the world’s most liveable cities. I worked for an insurance company and also as an office clerk at a university, just incredibly boring. There’s a recession in Japan, no money, so I wanted out. I have always loved manga. There’s nothing immature about admitting that in Japan; it’s an adult hobby. Manga and anime cafés can be found on every corner. The competition is fierce, and I saw there was a market here. You know, in Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City, there are already manga cafés. This is the easiest country in Southeast Asia to open a business, and this will be the first! There is not a big Japanese community here, so I hope most of my customers will be local. I have been surprised that some young Cambodians can speak Japanese, and there are a

‘My main goal is to encourage Cambodian manga creators. I think a Cambodian manga would be about fantasy’: Kenji Hozawa, owner of Cambodia’s first manga and anima café. PHA LINA

‘I want Cambodian people to know Japanese manga - K-pop is here, so why not? number of Japanese language schools. What is driving me is, I want Cambodian people to know Japanese manga and anime – K-pop is so popular here, so why not? I like comics, graphic novels, la bande dessinée in French, they say. Manga has a very distinct style though. Can you describe that style? We have a tradition of drawing, telling stories that way. I think it stems from the Ukiyo-e woodblock prints – so beautiful. More modern manga started after the US occupation in the ’40s and ’50s. Manga was then put in newspapers. It can be highbrow, but there is something for everyone – romance, comedies, realistic, dramas, action, sci-fi. Do you think the

combination of graphics and illustrations with a narrative can help encourage reading among younger Khmers? Yes, many young Cambodians don’t read. Even some adults. I think they should stock manga for sale at Monument Books, as it makes reading accessible for many. It’s an ideal combination of art and literature. My main goal is to encourage Cambodian manga creators. I think a Cambodian manga would be about fantasy. There is one I already like – Patrick Samnang Mey, who wrote Eugenie, a graphic novel, actually, but still exciting. His style [of drawing] is a bit softer than manga. It was different from Japanese manga – it did not have a happy ending! Right now, I will import mainly English-language manga, I won’t translate into Khmer because copyright is so

expensive, but I would love to see Cambodian artists create Khmer-language manga. The location seems a bit dubious . . . Why did you choose Golden Sorya mall on Street 51, an area renowned for hedonism and sex tourism? To be honest, because it is very cheap – this costs me only $200 a month! I hope to move somewhere bigger eventually with a huge cinema screen. Right now, it is a small space with 16 seats, bookshelves with Japanese and English manga, and we’ll serve Fanta. Strictly no alcohol. Sometimes manga is associated with porn, and I can see some irony. Late at night here, there are many drunk Western men around and prostitutes. We will open during the day though; close by 8pm . . . it’s quite peaceful

And your favourite manga? It would have to be Division Chief Kosaku Shima, it is about a businessman. He’s the most famous businessman in Japan, you know? He works for an electronics company, like Sony or Panasonic. An executive. People sometimes live their lives through manga . . . I read my first manga, though, as an eight-year-old. Doraemon – the blue robot cat! There are many men in their ’40s and ’50s who love these characters still. Who has stopped past the shop so far? There has been so much interest. I made a Facebook page and wow! It seems there are already little manga book clubs, which is great. They’ve asked when we’re opening, and some have even come to pose in front of my shop in cosplay [manga and anime costumes] in front of my manga posters in the window! Is this a male-dominated sphere – what about females? Well, in some ways, but I have had females get in touch too about the store. We have romance and teen manga – Fruits Basket is a good one. And Nodame Cantabile, a great tale about a quirky girl who plays the piano so well. Girls love the female anime characters – they like the tough ones. To be honest, this is a great alternative to the trashy magazines around, all about celebrity and image.

Hun Sen’s Eye @HunSensEye Laos is like, “Some guy named Rainsy just called and asked if we have ‘internets’ here. I told him we have all kinds of nets.” Liam Cochrane @Liam_ Cochrane Somewhat unnerving to return from the studio to find msg on phone that “@HunSensEye is now following you”. #Cambodia #mademelookaround is in the studio @FX_PP The more I stay in this town the more I learn to drop the fake smile and go straight to the point. #PhnomPenh can handle the truth! Casey Nelson @LTO_cambodia More tagging and graffiti showing up around town. Tourists stop to take pix of it. A new tourist attraction? Wildlife Alliance @WildlifeRescue Our rangers at the Stung Proat Station confiscated 4 live civets who were then brought to Wildlife Rehabilitation Station Hun Sen’s Eye @HunSensEye This morning I put sugar in my coffee, and of course Lao Mong Hay called and told me it was “a grave miscalculation.” #cambodia #douchebag OU RITTHY (KHMER) @ ritthyou Visiting them doing hunger strike! Very painful to see. This afternoon Appeal Court Summons Yorm Bopha. Lets see result tomorrow.

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THE PHNOM PENH POST • 7Days • JUNE 7 - 13, 2013

Poster children for the go Rosa ellen

the exhibition is curated by French-Cambodian UT of all the art director Davy Chou, whose forms resurrected 2011 documentary Golden from the abyss of Slumbers awoke many the Khmer Rouge memories of Cambodia’s preperiod, the brief golden era of Khmer Rouge film industry and kicked off a youth-driven Cambodian cinema has revival of 1960s and 70s perhaps been the most cinephilia, with the formation complicated to recapture. of the filmmaking collective Out of an estimated 380 Kon Khmer Khoun Khmer. feature films released in a “It’s a combination of period of less than 15 years, films we’ve lost and ones we only a few remain, many not on 16mm but crackling VCD have,” says Chou of the show, or watery video, copied again nodding to a canvas showing actress Dy Saveth in the and again. poster of her best-known film, As with those who lived wide-eyed under a dramatic through the Khmer Rouge, head of brown serpents. Cambodian film has seen “The Snake Man is not incredible stories of survival. Much of it thanks to the work lost. The filmmaker lives in Canada and has the print of cinephiles, students and there. This was the biggest amateur researchers –and hit. For that film I asked what can’t be remade is still remembered, through music, all my friends, ‘do you have a poster?’ No one had it. I homage and documentary. This week Birds of Paradise, asked the filmmaker and his a painting exhibition by daughter and she said that artist Kun Sotha in the foyer they had the film poster in of the Chaktamuk theatre, Thai, so it was translated into recreates the classic movie Khmer and recreated.”

‘My heart holds films and the stars of the past – this is my interest and something that’s taken me to research. ’ posters of the period’s bestknown features, in all their action-packed, technicolour glory. Shown as part of the Memory! International Film Heritage Festival,

Few film posters from the golden era survive. Most of the current recreations are from mass-produced lobby cards collected by fans or original movie posters from

Eighteen-year-old film researcher Rin Chhoumvirak wrote the program for the exhibition Birds of Paradise, a recreation of vintage film posters by artist Kun Sotha. The show is running as part of the Memory! International Film Heritage Festival. scott howes

Thailand, where Cambodian films and their stars, dubbed into Thai, were hugely popular. No one seems sure as to who painted the original artworks, packed with dramatic mise-enscenes, B-Grade glamour and screaming taglines. Since 2010, another group of young film buffs,

the Preah Sorya group, have enthusiastically dedicated themselves to researching and rediscovering golden era music and film. Their founder, 18-year-old Rin Chhoumvirak (Virak)wrote the text for Birds of Paradise and earlier this year, with some financial help from a fellow film buff,

flew to Bangkok to visit the Thailand Film Archive where, says archive director Chalida Uabumrungjit, there are two or three original film reels of Thai-released Cambodian films, as well as a small collection of pictures and posters. “At that film archive I found magazines and maybe a few films. I felt wonderful,” Virak says. “I don’t work not for myself or my family, it’s for our national [culture].” Last month he went on another mission, this time on the scent of a picture collection kept by a former movie projectionist in Ek Phnom, Battambang, and held onto through the Khmer Rouge. Anxious for a find, Virak prayed “to the stars” – Vichara Dany and Kong Sam Oeun, the dashing leads whose faces once commanded billboard-sized installations over Phnom Penh’s movie theatres – that he would uncover some more of their lost world. To his great surprise, the elderly projectionist presented him with a whole uncut reel of 16mm film. “After the Khmer Rouge, whenever there was a village ceremony, they’d bring the film out and screen it,” he explains. “Ten years ago he retired. [The family] had

even more films up until two years ago but they threw them out.” The 16mm film was lying partly unspooled on a table inside when he visited. “He gave the [remaining] film to me and I kept it at my house. I think it was made between 1967-68 because Kong Sam Oeun and Kim Nova are in it. I was so sorry [the other film was destroyed] - why didn’t they keep it for me?” he says with anguish. “I feel this [remaining] film is my luck. I always pray to the stars: please help me!” While the star actors of the ‘60s and ‘70s enthrall Virak, their deaths cast a sad shadow on the films. From the 11 movie poster paintings on display, Dy Saveth and Virak Dara were able to escape the regime. Others such as Chea Youthon, Sam Ouen, Nova and Dany, were killed and their films – of which there was usually only one copy – mostly destroyed. “My heart holds films and the stars of the past – this is my interest and something that’s taken me to research. I want to know: Why did they die? How did they develop this filmmaking?” Virak says. “There’s a whole story behind each film,” Chou says of the films in the Birds of Paradise show. One of

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olden era of Khmer film

Few original movie posters remain, but fan cards can still be found. supplied

his favourite of Kun Sotha’s paintings is the mystical drama Tro Peang Peay [The Sacred Pond, 1970], the first film to show lead actors naked, with a soundtrack featuring Sinn Sisamouth and Ros Sereysothea. In contrast, the artwork for Ung Kanthouk’s lively 10,000 Regrets [1970], with a jiving, trousered

Vichara Dany, is more Elvis Presley than Angkor. The musical romance was set in contemporary times and included music by the Bee Gees. After making Golden Slumbers Chou met Ung Kanthouk, who had left Cambodia and was living in France, and invited her to a screening of his film.

“She was so amazing – she was so talkative! I wish so much that I could have met her before so I could include her in the film. She said she was shy, but afterwards she couldn’t stop talking.” Chou, the grandson of Cambodian director Vann Chan, became enamoured with the Kingdom’s lost cinema after watching movies

A movie poster obtained by the film group Preah Sorya. supplied

In his essay, ‘Nine Tales of a Rediscovered Cinema’, reprinted for the Memory festival catalogue, Chou muses that probably the golden era’s greatest film is Ly Bun Yim’s Theorum of the Seahorse, and it has never been seen – by anyone. It was finished and ready to be screened when the events of April 1975 intervened.

‘I want to show what I feel about film to other people. I want to write about film... and eventually I want to make films. ’ sent to his family on VCD. In between films, a trailer for one of his grandfather’s films came on. Of the 30 films he made, only three survive.

A movie poster made of film stills, rather than painted. supplied

Much of the current information on golden era cinema has been collected by Khmer cinephile turned blogger Huy Vathara, who

migrated to France in 1980 and eventually created an online depository of everything he could find of Cambodian film – the site became so populated with clips, biography and music, it now has restricted access. Along with other online film lovers in the US, Huy has built up a huge amount of resources on Cambodian filmmaking, says Lim Sophorn, archivist at the Bophana Visual Resource Center. It was Huy who reached out to Virak and Chou. “We met, I was working in France and I had the idea of something to do on this topic. To be honest, I think he was a little disappointed: I hadn’t seen a single film, I was just interested in the stories of the films,” says Chou. At Memory, one of the biggest crowd-pleasers to screen has been Ly Bun Yim’s

1965 hit Sobasith, a mythical tale with what was considered at the time to be staggering special effects. It is the second time Virak has seen it – the first was with the director himself, after the teen rang him up for a school project and asked to interview him. “He said OK and was very friendly about it – I was very happy. I started writing a book about Ly Bun Yim, but it’s not published,” he adds. For the second screening, at Chaktomuk theatre, Virak will take his mother and grandmother along. They’re proud of his work, he says, though they aren’t great film buffs themselves. 1960s and 70s film has instilled a kind of national pride in him, he says. “I want to show what I feel about film to other people. I want to write about film... and eventually I want to make films.”

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THE PHNOM PENH POST • 7Days • JUNE 7 - 13, 2013

Writing’s on the wall: rosy future for street art scene? Poppy mcpherson ore than 100 years ago, the Royal Palace needed a painter. The man chosen had a deep passion for art, which has passed down three generations of women in his family. First to his daughter, a royal doctor in the 1960s, then his granddaughter, who survived the Khmer Rouge regime, artistic inclination intact and, finally, his great granddaughter: the country’s first street artist. Speaking in a hotel covered in her own murals, the royal painter’s youngest descendent politely declines to reveal her great grandfather’s name because he was a “controversial political figure” but says her family inspires her work. She’s at the forefront of a nascent street art movement which encompasses international artists working in Cambodia who have attracted attention on the other side of the globe, as well as a growing number of locals. The 24-year-old, who is known for her hypnotising kaleidoscopic patterns, many featuring female figures reminiscent of Apsara dancers, often collaborates with Peap Tarr, 36, whose mother is Cambodian and father from New Zealand. The twosome could be called the rock stars of the Cambodian street art scene. The city teems with their imagery: they’ve been hired to create pieces for bars, restaurants and hotels around the city, as well as advertisements. The pair also play a key role in The Roots Remain, an upcoming documentary by Montreal-based French Cambodian street artist ‘Fonki’, who sought them

Artist Lisa Mam: “I do like Cambodian patterns, they’re really intricate.” SUPPLIED

out as evidence of the burgeoning urban scene in the country while on a trip last year. “I wanted to show the energy of what is happening in Cambodia right now, especially in the communities that I’ve met through graffiti,” the

23-year-old says in a Skype interview from Montreal, fingers blackened from an earlier painting session. His interest in graffiti was piqued in childhood (“as a kid I love to take markers and write on the bus”) but matured into a fuller appreciation of the

art form. “Graffiti is a tool to meet people, and also a tool to reconnect with our culture. We really want to show [though the documentary] something different from what usually you see from Cambodia – Khmer Rouge and Angkor Wat.”

says, is derived from motifs on the walls of Angkor temples, blended “with the modern imagination”. They pair have just finished painting the interior of a new bar, Slur, which opens next week on Street 172. They both stress the importance of doing work that is, in Mam’s words, both “legal and nice”. Not everyone agrees. A handful of, mostly expat, graffiti writers based in the city paint walls where permission has been given but also private property: fences, walls and the temporary structures around construction sites – places where the boundaries blur. “Painting legal walls is OK, but it doesn’t really give you any kind of buzz,” Daniel* says one afternoon in a Western restaurant, fingers wrapped around a cold Anchor. His routine is rather different from the other two. “Getting up at 2am, creeping the streets, getting up and going out the next day and checking it all out.” “I’ve done rooftops at 3am when I’ve been drunk off my face, hanging off the side of a roof, it’s f***ing stupid really.” He completes three or four pieces a month, from simple tags to complex murals involving 20 or more colours, spending upwards of $60 a month on paint. A good deal of the most recent graffiti, he said, has been done by ‘graffiti tourists’ who come to the city specifically to leave Like Peap and Mam, behind tags and throw-ups. his work incorporates He cites a UK-based Cambodian visual tropes. group called World While in the country Domination who “paint he returned to Angkor literally every country they Wat with the intention can get into.” of learning about Khmer He and a friend also ornaments to weave into based in Phnom Penh will his own work. When he go to Ho Chih Minh soon, painted on walls around “just for painting.” town – including a mural at “We’ll paint during the entrance to Boeung Kak the day on some legal Lake, Cambodian people walls where you’ve got recognised symbols in his permission to paint, and at designs. night-time go out bombing “I really wanted to and painting the streets.” incorporate that style, it’s Some of the art on so rich.” Phnom Penh walls has Both Peap and Mam use garnered international Cambodian patterns in attention. their work, but the former’s Lee Bo, who runs the are “a bit more fierce,” website Global Street Art, according to the artist. which has a goal to build Much of Mam’s style, she a global photographic

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Street artists Peap Tarr and Lisa Mam painted the interior of Kampuchea Krom’s Le Biz Hotel. SCOTT HOWES

archive of street art online, said he’s posted content from Cambodia. “It has been artists who have visited and painted in Cambodia,” he writes in an email from London. “I suspect it’s a combination of our brand not being so known in Cambodia, but also the scene being quite young there.” Street art is spreading internationally, and “getting good”, very quickly, he adds. “With increasing internet use, everyone has access to art from all over the

world. If you subscribe to good blogs or Facebook pages you can see amazing international art no matter where you are based.” Aside from trailblazers Peap and Mam, other Cambodians have started to take an interest and experiment with paint. During his time on the street, Daniel has spotted a number of what he thinks are the hallmarks of locals. “There are a couple of kids running around, I can tell they’re locals – I can just tell by what they’re doing, and what they’re

Mam and Tarr are at the forefront of the scene in Cambodia. SUPPLIED

‘There are a couple of kids running around, I can just tell they’re locals from what they’re doing.’ writing.” If you’re an inexperienced writer, he says, “you don’t go to other countries writing graffiti, you start off in your own back yard until you get better.” Mam and Peap,

meanwhile, have a large Cambodian following online. They are probably from the city’s wealthier families, Peap said. “I just judge by the younger kids that follow us, a lot of them go

A graffiti wall in Toul Kork. SUPPLIED

to international schools, they have access to the web. “I know some of them are trying it out, but there’s no real scene.” In Thailand, he says, the graffiti scene started with “richer kids doing it, they could afford the equipment.” “If was different to the West, where it was poor kids who got into it, because you could paint any way you wanted and anyone could see it… “Asian culture, it’s different. It’s not like, let’s go and steal some paint – in

terms of Buddhism that’s really bad, they don’t steal.” It’s not just wealthier children who are taking an interest. Peap has done classes with children taking part in Friends International-sponsored programmes and says “it’s hard to know who it could touch.” The skateboarding NGO Skateistan, whose facility near the Russian Market is covered in paintings – have also had graffiti artists come to talk to children. CONTINUES TO PAGE 8

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At first, they didn’t understand the concept said Bejamin Pecquer, Cambodia Country Manager for the NGO. “We as foreigners have special feelings about street art and graffiti, and here they have nothing – they don’t really understand why we do that. “Now, when they come in they all say, ‘Wow, that’s super beautiful’ and ‘we want to do the same’. They’re really excited about painting a wall, or doing something nice in the landscape, but they don’t have a special idea first, so they just stand in front of the design.” “One place that’s really nice on Norodom Boulevard, many international people come in. Old buildings. People live there, I know that they allow the people who do graffiti to come, they pay a little money.” “I’m sure that in a few years you will see it [a big scene]. You go to Bangkok, Vietnam, you see graffiti everywhere, and skate parks and the urban culture is bringing people together.” Tin, 20, a young Cambodian student instructor at the centre, painted a cartoon dog on one of the skate park ramps. “As a first step for me, I want to draw many ramps in Skateistan and, if I’m free, I want to draw outside, on the wall,” she said. There’s no doubt that graffiti - like the other hallmarks of ‘urban’ culture such as hip hop and breakdancing –has been heavily influenced by scenery foreign to Cambodia.

Benjamin Pecquer, Cambodia Country Manager for Skateistan: “I’m sure that in a few years you will see a bigger scene’. SCOTT HOWES

‘Last time we did it, the police stopped and were taking some video of us doing it – but so was Joe public’ Naturally, international artists transfer their own “techniques and stylistic influences”, says Bofkin. “If you’re taught by someone who has a certain style then you’re more likely to take that style.” “How else is it going to come in?” says Peap. “ With hip hop it was definitely Cambodian Americans. Also some of the French Cambodians. But no one was bringing in street art. I started doing a bit and linking up with Lisa and then it really started to happen.” The pair are cautious about the development of the street art scene they helped foster. “It’s developing now. Right now me and Lisa do it serious, we take it serious,” says Peap. “People have to understand that we’re not just going out there tagging and doing illegal stuff, we also do it just to spread our culture and make a movement in the art scene,” Lisa says. “To also let the Cambodian young people join in this art scene and make it become bigger and bigger.” A glance at Cambodia-specific forums reveals threads lambasting the increase in graffiti – and, mostly tongue-in-cheek, threats. “Taggers should be castrated on sight,” says one post on Khmer 440. “My fear would be a bunch of Khmer

Classic outlines seen on Phnom Penh walls. SUPPLIED

kids seeing it done and off they go spraying everything in sight. Then Cambodia would look like a damn train yard,” reads another. Some have threatened to turn vigilante on graffiti artists, according to Daniel. No doubt, lines have been crossed in the past. In 2010 an Italian graffiti artist spraypainted walls at Tuol Sleng genocide museum. One of the spray-painted images was a portrait of a boy executed at S-21 holding a sign with the man’s tag, ‘‘codefc’’. So where does graffiti cross the line into vandalism? “Certain things are completely out of bounds,” says Daniel. “I’d never paint a school or a place or worship or someone’s private property.” For Peap and Lisa, all tagging is out, as is all painting without permission. “When you start going all out in Cambodia, the government will just come and shut it down, they shut everything down they don’t like,” says Peap, adding that in Thailand the scene had turned sour after an expat couple started drawing over other artists’ work and ‘bombing’ the city. “They really created such a bad scene over there, where the government is actually cracking

Street art near to Boeung Kak Lake. SCOTT HOWES

down on stuff and it’s a lot harder to do things” “I just don’t want it to die too early,” Lisa adds. In Cambodia, the legal repercussions are not nearly so clear-cut as in the West. None of the artists know of anyone who has been arrested, or even fined, for painting on a wall, though several have had run-ins with the law, or private security guards. All have been tame. When asked whether street art, or painting on walls, was a crime in Cambodia, the spokesman for the Phnom Penh police department said he couldn’t answer. “Last time we did it, the police stopped and were taking some video of us doing it – but so

was Joe public,” Daniel says. “They didn’t come up and ask us what we were doing, or if we had permission – they thought it was pretty cool.” When Fonki had the Phnom Penh police chief on the phone after his project gathered a crowd, it came down to the question: What is art? His own, it seems, has been given the city’s stamp of approval. “He said, ‘OK, if you say it’s art, you tell me and send your sketch. If it’s art, I’ll let you do your thing.’ And so then, he decided that it was art, and he let me do my thing.” *Names have been changed

The walls of NGO Skateistan’s Phnom Penh centre were painted by children. SCOTT HOWES

JUNE 7 - 13, 2013 • 7Days • THE PHNOM PENH POST

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Inside the home of: An arts therapist “I was nursing in the early 90s here for a couple of emergency NGOS and Cambodia was a very different world - it was what woke me up.”

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CLAIRE KNOX

ET back over five kilometres from the Tonle Sap’s chocolate waters and hours away from any of the country’s sandy coastlines, the sleepy suburb of Sangkat Boeung Tumpun is an unlikely location for a ship. “It’s interesting because we literally almost bought a boat,“ says art therapist Carrie Herbert as she opens a Bougainvillea-swathed cream gate, throwing her arms up towards the three level house in front of us, its white-washed concrete moulded into the bowed shape of a boat. “The one that became Pontoon – do you remember? It didn’t work out for a number of reasons but I think that even back then, years ago, we had already thought of the metaphore of boats and water.” Herbert designed the home (it straddles the border of Boeung Tumpun and the fast developing Tuol Tompoung) with her partner – also an art therapist - Kit Loring, and the metaphor she is referring to is their practice of therapy: “diving deep into experiences, navigating the storms of life, letting go and washing away.” The home is also the base for Herbert and Loring’s Ragamuffin project, which provides clinical arts healing for Cambodian children and adults - rape victims, refugees, those with emotional and mental disorders or who have suffered trauma or drug addiction– along with running training programs for organisations, courses for local counsellors and housing research facilities. Herbert channels all the right earth mother vibes – a soothing intonation, calm gestures and ample, genuine embraces - but is without the saccharine spirit often synonymous with hippie healers. “Personally I am lured towards the water and ocean... I grew up in a small fishing village in the south of Wales, around boats. Water is a powerful force- it’s in our tears, most of our body is made up of it.” The pair purchased the block of land five years ago, which originally held a traditional Cambodian concrete house and a couple of “sick, wounded mango trees” and asked a visiting architect friend for his aesthetic expertise. “He joked, ‘You could fit the hull of a boat

in there’ and I suddenly knew what it was. The next day we were walking around the house with chalk, sketching out the lines, I’m sure people thought we were mad.” The soaring boat house can be spied from the street below, tangles of vines and creeper tumbling over its curved walls, the hull of the ship looking east over Phnom Penh. It is grand and commanding but at the same time veiled in privacy by the layers of vegetation – something the pair intended. The nautical theme has been wonderfully played up: portholes are dotted around each level, nautical rope is hung from railings, vessels filled with shells and sand are placed on tables. Turquoise, teal and aqua silk cushions form a wall around the feature and the heart of the house- the living room and “healing room”. The circular windows are lined up close to the ceiling – one looks out from the inside to a sea of leafy green. “We were trying to create that privacy but at the same time keep it very light and bright.“ There’s ample security – a number of guards, barbed wire, cameras and padlocks – but once inside the house is free from the iron bars and blackened windows that mar the homes of many in this city. Herbert says the house was designed around the two mango trees – they’re now producing over five kilos of mangos every year. The house – there are three sections: the boat room, an office and an apartment - swirls around a verdant courtyard with large, kidney shaped ponds, a waterfall and Japanese-styled pebble paths and bridges. “The trees were so symbolic really of what we do and who we work with. I got chatting with Bill Grant, the engineer – he’s back in Wales now – and he helped us design foundations underneath the house which would allow the roots to spread. The trees have just flourished! It’s like they’re saying ‘I am a mango tree!’ They are actually breaking through the concrete and rock bases of the ponds. Overall, the most important thing for us design-wise was to respect nature as we built... It was just fitting that these trees rose up again and we deal with people that are also incredibly wounded.” The garden certainly did flourish and the property’s lastly built structure - the three level apartment the pair do most of their living in – is “like a beautiful white tree house... You can hear the water trickling outside.” Herbert employed a builder from a village in

“What feelings does it evoke in people? They always ask ‘Can I live here?’ They say they don’t want to leave. Also a safe and relieved.” ruth keber

rural Cambodia, Sarun – a friend of one of her staff – and says she was touched by his response to “a strange idea”. “He’d never heard of a curved wall... But he was so committed to building things in a safe way. He was a bit puzzled, but it broadened his creativity. He surprised us with beautiful gestures - he carved a lotus into concrete [the lotus, a symbol of healing in Cambodia, is used

throughout the spaces- windows are shaped like the flower, as are lights] and lovely spirals. He put his and his workers’ energy into it. The apartment is petite – on one floor an office and therapy room, on the next a small lounge and miniscule kitcheonette and a maritime, iron ladder creeps up to the third floor bedroom and bathroom. A white, ornate balcony wraps around the structure.

The lower level of the ship: “While they were building the boat room, living on site, the construction workers had dried fish strung up and were all singing ‘I’m going to the island, a safe place for supper’, it was so funny and wonderful and awesome, exactly the type of energy we wanted into the new building. ruth keber

Art therapists Carrie Herbert (above) and Kit Loring butterflies and beautiful birds, rainbow fish that ni catcher.” The two ponds resemble hearts and are c

Feature

JUNE 7 - 13, 2013 • 7Days • THE PHNOM PENH POST

feeling of playfulness- a person came in here the other day and just leapt on the beanbags. People say they feel

“I call it very economic, ergonomic pod living. You realise what you don’t need when you live in a small space. Because nature is wrapped around us you have a sense of spaciousness.” Inbuilt wall boxes house trinkets from all around the world (Ragamuffin works in Russia, Peru and Kazakhstan) – there are brass singing bowls, sculptures of delicate Kbach Apsara dance hand gestures, an embroidered carving

“The lotus flower is a very important spiritual symbol of Cambodia that comes up constantly in arts therapy so I really wanted this in my home.” PHA LINA

from Kazakhstan, a shisha from Russia, a pretty sketch of a Celtic ‘healing woman’ from Wales, and saxophones, flutes and other percussion instruments (Herbert and Loring are both musicians). A favourite object of Herbert’s is a wind chime made of driftwood gifted by her brother. “It says Gwled, it means homeland in Welsh. A constant reminder of home.”

g share their verdant courtyard with their two dogs and other wild animals: “They’re amazing- we get bats and ibble at your feet just like the Bangkok fish spas… We have a snake too actually, he’s a safe snake though, a rat connected through a bridge, she says. ruth keber

“I often leave to work on other projects in other countries, and I like that nomadic lifestyle, but it always feels like home, when I come back. I sigh, its like a sanctuary.” PHA LINA

Lifestyle

THE PHNOM PENH POST • 7Days • JUNE 7 - 13, 2013

Sugar daddy love: My last chance? JACKSON LORD SEATON Dear Jackson, I’m under no illusions. I’m 52 years old, and my girlfriend, a lovely Cambodian woman, is 25. I only speak very basic Khmer and her English is minimal, but I enjoy just being with her, and she seems to be happy to oblige me. I’m educated – I know to most people there would seem to be something missing. The relationship is by no means equal. But, whether or not it’s a perfect match, I feel like it’s my only option: I’m divorced, pretty overweight and feel like this is my last chance to have some companionship. I would be perfectly content, but the problem is, I have 2 children with my ex-wife, both living in Australia. The relationship with their mother ended badly, and I came to Cambodia soon afterwards. Neither of them will come to visit – which is a problem, as I can’t foresee myself leaving anytime soon. My daughter, in her twenties, flat-out refuses, as she disapproves of my new relationship. More than that, she is disgusted by it – my girlfriend, who may soon become my wife, is her age, she says. How can I reconcile myself with my children without losing my girlfriend, who has become dependent on me? While sexpats sleaze their way through Phnom Penh streets,

there are honest, good-intentioned men who come to Cambodia and unwittingly fall for a younger Khmer woman, mistaking mutual dependence for love. Is this woman worth ruining your relationship with your children? If you really loved her, it might be. Judging from your letter, though, it

just seems as though you’re afraid of being alone. And celibate. Think of it from your daughter’s perspective. There’s a rift in the family, and instead of facing it, you flee to a developing country where (she thinks) you have sex with hookers her age, thus sexualizing her peer group, and making you not

only a coward in her eyes, but also a lascivious exploiter of impoverished women. In other words, your daughter likely thinks you’re becoming a creep. The companionship your Cambodian lover gives you might be good, but your relationship with her seems to have nothing to do

with who she is as a person. Do you really know anything about her? Or are you only interested because of what she gives you? If the latter is the case, do yourselves both a favour and end it. She may be content with the relationship too, but it’s unlikely that she’ll ever be truly happy. Like I said: mutual dependence. Do you really think she sees you as something more than a gentle fat man with a wallet? Try to find yourself a meaningful relationship. In Western countries, there tends to be more single women in your age group then men. Many have been married and divorced. They know what it’s like. Many are still searching for love. Go home for a bit. See your children. Repair things. Hit the gym. Try playing the field. Ask your friends to set you up. Look at your divorce as another chance for love instead of a mess of screaming and lawyers to make you feel defeated, to make you flee to another continent for the numbing comforts of cheap love and beer. Or, if you really do fall in love here, stay, learn the language, get married, take care of your wife’s people, put roots in this beautiful land. Love can transcend race, age and language – I know. It’s just that in Phnom Penh, that kind of love tends to be scarce. Got a question about sex or relationships for Jackson? Email ppp.lifestyle@gmail.com.

Movie Review

Awesome horsemen fizzle out By Stephanie Merry If THERE were an instruction manual for heist movies, the directions would include amusing the audience members with witty banter, delighting them with a clever crime and shocking them with one final neversaw-it-coming twist. The makers of the entertaining and confounding Now You See Me have painstakingly followed orders, ensuring all the required components are in place. The problem is that, in focusing on what makes a good caper, director Louis Leterrier forgot about what makes a good movie: character development, carefully constructed tension and believable plot points. The film opens with an Ocean’s Elevenlike montage introduction to four magicians. There’s the egotistical card trick pro Daniel Atlas ( Jesse Eisenberg, basically playing Mark Zuckerberg again), con man and lock picker extraordinaire Jack Wilder (Dave Franco), underwater escape artist Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher) and mentalist Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson). The four are brought together by an unknown person who offers a reward if the magicians team up and carry out some large-scale deception. Fast-forward a year, and the quartet, now known as the Four Horsemen, vamps on a Las Vegas stage preparing for the evening’s piece de resistance. Without leaving the

delivery of witticisms, but they’re also dismissive and self-righteous. So, the first complication becomes who we should pull for: the somewhat likable authority figures or the somewhat likable criminals? As we ponder that little puzzle, the story begins to get bogged down by a fledgling romance, a corrupt insurance company chief executive, a long-missing magician and the addition of Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman). Thaddeus is a pompous myth debunker and TV personality, whose main role is to make Dylan look like an idiot while explaining (to him and to us) how the Four Horsemen pull off their stunts. As the action kicks into gear, the story sprints to catch up. Regardless of how or why we got here, it’s at least fun to watch. The mostly bloodless hand-to-hand combat looks like Jason Bourne with just a dash of the Three Stooges. If the plot starts to feel a little outlandish, there’s the sense that a The cast of the latest installment of the ‘never-ending smashy-crashy’ Fast franchise. Reuters razzle-dazzle finale could bring the threads arena, the illusionists appear to rob a swivels over to FBI agent Dylan Rhodes together. But it never comes. The big last Parisian bank and rain the stolen euros on (Mark Ruffalo) and his new partner from heist erupts, then fizzles. And the requisite the excited audience. Interpol, Alma Dray (Melanie Laurent). twist, while indeed a shock, opens holes in The outrageous setup more than suffices, Dylan is a more-or-less lovable what plot development came before. and the film gets a lift from offbeat curmudgeon stock character, and Alma is The bulk of movies in theaters this characters, especially Daniel and Merritt, his fresh-faced counterpoint. Agent Rhodes time of year promise action-packed visual and humorous dialogue. The camerawork can’t prove how the Four Horsemen pulled splendor without requiring much brain is zippy, and the film pops with the promise off their thievery, but he’s set on halting power. Now You See Me purports to be of effervescent fun. any more wily lawbreaking at their next big something more, offering the former inside of a cinematic cryptogram. Now that And yet, these lively shysters don’t show in New Orleans. turn out to be the main focus of the Dylan and Daniel are remarkably similar. would have been a neat trick. washington post film. Following the Vegas show, the story They’re fun to watch with their sweet

Lifestyle

JUNE 7 - 13, 2013 • 7Days • THE PHNOM PENH POST

Fishermen carry a rattan basket full of water vegetables, bound for market stalls, on Koh Tang island off the Sihanoukville coastline. PHA LINA

Restaurant Review

Mackerel, marinated in a simple mix of ginger and garlic, is tender and delicious. ruth keber

Grilled prawns need not be adorned with anything else. They’re rubbed with garlic and chilli. ruth keber

A health-kick uncovers fishy delights Julius Thiemann

stingray and clams, beautifully fresh and seasoned with a sauce of garlic chilli and In A recent attempt to change my life, I cut sugar, sizzle above the charcoal fire. It smells my hair, changed my sheets and decided to of the ocean. give up carbs. The beer belly had to go, but Rightly or wrongly, I take popularity as an I wasn’t sure where in Phnom Penh I could indicator of cleanliness. Whenever I’m there escape the rice trail. for dinner, the place is packed: groups of men, Luckily, there’s Russian Market. One women and couples giggle together, feasting corner is home to a handful of small seafood and licking their fingers. Shiny cutlery is kept barbecues. They’re all decent, but one – the in Tupperware, and servers wear disposable restaurant right in the middle – is exceptional. plastic gloves. Dining there is more than a meal; it’s a It looks so clean, in fact, that I usually dare culinary experience. You sit on the plastic to order oysters as a starter. Just 1,500 riel chairs and wait, watching squid, prawns, apiece, they go well with the raw veggies on

ice. The real treats, however, are the mains, which come straight from the grill. Small portions go for 5,000 riel, and are a great size for sharing (big are 10,000). The mackerel is a revelation. It comes wrapped in tinfoil, covered in ginger and some fried onions. The ginger and onion had drawn into the fish and gave it a subtle aromatic note that unfolded when the tender and yet al dente meat fell into flakes on my tongue. Needs absolutely nothing to go with it. The prawns are delicious: juicy, thanks to

the garlic-chilli sugar-glazing, and perfectly soft. The squid manages to be both delicate and crispy, especially on the tentacles, which are guzzled with a satisfying crunch. One warning: don’t come for the mini stingrays, which suffer from a chalky taste that I imagine somewhat akin to limestone. The little place with the four high-heeled waitresses has become my regular. The service is attentive and personal - a real pleasure in the chaotic hustle and bustle of Tuol Tompoung. Street 450, restaurant in the middle under the market canopy, open from 5pm.

What’s on TV

THE PHNOM PENH POST 7DAYS june 7-13 , 2013

Friday

S T A R

01:52 Clear And Present Danger 04:09 The Eagle 06:00 Hudson Hawk 08:00 Tower Heist 10:00 Red Dawn 12:00 Clear And Present Danger 14:30 Mirror Mirror 16:15 The Deep End Of The Ocean 18:00 The Eagle 20:00 Hudson Hawk 22:00 Tower Heist

02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00

The Amazing World Of Gumball My Gym Partners A Monkey Chowder Abe Monsters Baby Looney Tunes Tom S Jerry Show Bola Kampung Ben 10: Omniverse Oggy And The Cockroaches Adventure Time Tom A Jerry Show The Amazing World Of Gumball

05:10 Cheaper By Trie Dozen 2

16:00 Kung Fu Panda

06:45 Pirates Of Trie Caribbean:

16:30 Kid Vs Kat

09:35 Con Air

17:00 Penguins Of Madagascar

11:30 Safe

17:30 Fanboy A Chum Chum

14:50 Once Upon A Time

18:00 Spongebob Squarepants

15:40 Da Vinci’s Demons

19:00 Penguins Of Madagascar

16:40 Trie Big Year

20:00 Kung Fu Panda

18:20 Up 20:00 This Means War

21:00 Ttie Fairly Oddparents

21:40 Bad Ass

22:00 Spongebob Squarepants

23:10 Con Air

23:00 Chalkzone

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Action

09:00 Nascar Sprint Cup Series 10:00 Nascar Nationwide Series

Bad Ass

A Vietnam veteran who becomes a local hero after saving a man from attackers on a city bus decides to take action when his best friend is murdered and the police show little interest in solving the crime.

21:40

11:00 Total Rugby 11:30 Abl Crossover

18:30 Fim Mx3 World Champ

07:00 Football Friendly

19:00 Rugby 7s Season Review

09:00 Uefa Champions League

20:00 Inside European Rally Champ

12:00 Archery World Cup

20:30 Score Tonight

12:30 Fifa World Cup Asian Qualifiers

20:55 Fia Fl Champ

14:30 Mlb Regular Season 17:30 Baseball Tonight International

22:30 Wheels 2

18:30 Fox Sports Central Live

23:00 Score Tonight

19:00 Asean Basketball League

23:30 Muaythai Warriors

11:00 French Cup 13:00 Football Friendly 15:00 Scg Thailand Open 20:00 Uefa Champions League 22:00 Uefa Champions League

11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 17:30 18:00 19:00

Saturday

How It’s Made Destroyed In Seconds Destroyed In Seconds What Happened Next? Magic Of Science American Chopper World’s Toughest Drive Man Vs Wild How Do They Do It ? How It’s Made Dirty Jobs How It’s Made

12:00 Great Ocean Adventures 13:00 Snake Crusader With Bruce

George In Too Deep Killer Outbreaks My Extreme Animal Phobia Untamed A Uncut Meerkat Manor Ned Bruha: Skunk Whisperer Wildest Islands Snake Crusader With Bruce George 19:30 In Too Deep 20:00 Untamed Europe 13:30 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 17:30 18:00 19:00

S T A R

02:00 Anonymous 04:15 Mirror Mirror 06:00 Clear And Present 08:20 Mirror Mirror 10:15 Hudson Hawk 12:00 The Deep End Of The Ocean

15:00 Tom S Jerry Show 17:00 Dragons: Riders Of The Berk 18:00 Oggy And The Cockroaches 19:00 Adventure Time

13:50 About Schmidt

20:00 Tom S Jerry Show

15:50 Serenity

21:00 The Amazing World Of Gumball

17:45 Clear And Present Danger 20:05 Red Dawn

22:00 Oggy And The Cockroaches

22:00 Anonymous

23:00 Chowder

03:55 05:35 07:35 09:00 10:55 12:35 14:40 16:15 18:05 20:00 21:50 23:15

Fat Albert Trie Pursuit Of Happyness Stuart Little 2 Trie Magic Of Belle Isle This Means War Trie Day After Tomorrow One For Trie Money White Chicks Shallow Hal 21 Jump Street Trie Sitter Once Upon A Time

12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 15:00 18:00 19:00 19:30 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Drake S Josh You’ve Got To See This Big Time Rush Ttie Fairly Oddparents Icarly Icarly Marvin Marvin Penguins Of Madagascar Kung Fu Panda Ttie Fairly Oddparents Spongebob Squarepants Chalkzone

12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Tanked Pit Bulls And Parolees Austin Stevens Adventures Animal Planet Showcase Untamed Europe My Extreme Animal Phobia My Cat From Hell Tales Of Nature Great Savannah Race River Monsters: Killer Outbreaks Whale Wars: Viking Shores

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Action

11:30 Football Asia

13:30 Fia Fl Champ

Red Dawn

12:00 Global Football

15:00 Fifa World Cup Asian Qualifiers

12:30 Smash