Cambodian Masters, Stories Told...

See the multimedia introduction piece of this project at this link.

This project features 7 Cambodian masters in their specific art.
Meet each of them through a multimedia portrait (photos + interview) at the following links:

Socheatah Ung

Ny Jewell

Masady Mani

Viphas Eng

Phutyrith Sek

Chum Ngek

Kantya Nou

Archival pictures in this stories are from photographers Dominique de Rivaz, Jean-Jacques Kurz and Robert Trippett whose contribution to this project and multimedia pieces are greatly appreciated, thanks a lot!


From the Cambodian refugee camps of the Thai border in 1979 to America today, there’s still thousands of stories that must be told.
All the confirmed artists that I have met at the Cambodian temple of Silver Spring, Maryland these last two years have compelling stories… Most of them have fled Cambodia while the Vietnamese took over the country and the Khmer Rouge loosing it. Several ended up meeting together in Kao-I-Dang refugee camp where they were eager to bring back the Cambodian living arts alive. After a few months, a group of 30 families of artists was admitted in the United States, among the first Cambodian refugees accepted in the US. They settled in Maryland and started a new life in the early 80s. For the last 30 years now they have challenged the odds, going back to school, looking for jobs to support their family and raising their children. Still they continued practicing their art, sharing the tradition to a younger generation of Cambodian Americans.

The Liquor Store, Washington DC

See a multimedia version of this story at this link.


At the intersection of North Capitol Street and Florida Avenue in Washington DC, just a mile and a half (2,5 kms) from the Capitol building, there’s a liquor store. Nothing exceptional except that the business is owned and managed by a Cambodian family.
The Pich family arrived in the United States in 1988 after some years in Thai refugee camps and 6 months in Philippines before reaching the US. They have been based in the DC area all these last 20 years, and have bought this liquor business from Korean people in 2006. The two boys of the family, Mak and Pron (aged 25 and 29) managed the store, Monday through Friday, from 10am to 10pm. Their parents work in a hotel downtown and regularly come help and keep an eye on the accountancy.

















This area at the intersection of North Capitol Street and Florida Avenue is not the safest place in DC. This is where the North East neighborhood starts, on the way to Florida, New York and Rhode Island avenues. The ghetto, a lot of hanging around in the streets, evidently some drug dealing and insecurity.
Pron and Mak are separated from their customers with thick windows. The money is checked before anything is delivered… Calling the police to get rid of excited customers is not rare. Still it’s a business, and even during these hard times, the sales of beer, wine, soda, hard liquor and lottery tickets constantly bring people into the shop. The two boys don’t have much time to be bored...

Cambodian Artists perform for Obama election's celebrations, Washington DC

See a multimedia version of this story at this link.

On January Sunday 18, 2009, two days before the historical inauguration of President Elect Obama, the Cambodian American artists (adults and students) of the temple of Silver Spring, MD, performed on the stage of the National Museum of the American Indian, one of the prestigious Museums of the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall of Washington DC, a few hundred feet distanced from the United States Capitol.
It was a while I had not met the Cambodian artists of the DC area, some of them I had already photographed in 2008 at the temple of Silver Spring, MD, during Khmer New Year. Their performance at the Museum of the American Indian was part of a folkloric festival, one of the many festivities and events organized in the week before the inauguration of Barack Obama. Two days after these pictures were shot, America ended eight years of Bush administration and started a new era with the first ever African American president of its history…