S-21 Revisited
Sopheap Pich
I have been living in Cambodia for three years. Due to this, my knowledge of Cambodian artists is limited, gained for the most part from talking to local artists and the small number of publications.
Substantial exhibitions of work are rare; an exception to this case is the work of the painter Vann Nath whose work depicting torture scenes by the Khmer Rouge on the prisoners at S-21 is a permanent feature of the museum.
Nath is known mainly for his autobiographical book A Prison Portrait (White Lotus) and for his role in the Rithy Panh film S-21 Killing Machine. In the movie, he is the narrator and main character, telling the frightening story of the former elementary school.
Some friends informed me that his health has been suffering, and the chances of him still painting were slim. At our first meeting, I had to insist upon seeing his studio despite his protests that it was not neat. In reality it was a very small. A few unfinished paintings on each wall: three S-21 scenes, one Bayon temple, and a landscape on an easel. To be honest, it was actually the most organized studio I have ever seen.
Considering the kind of work we are accustomed to from Vann Nath, his studio does not have a feeling of heaviness, unease or darkness. I remember seeing an exhibition of Francis Bacon, in which photographs of his studio reflect very much what he was doing; the walls and doors were covered with oil paint with leftover tubes everywhere. It really felt like there was the same angst present in the space that was he was channeling into his work.
We spent a lot of time discussing his life, and it took several meetings to get to the subject matter of his work. I told him about my first visit to S-21, the feeling of emptiness I felt upon entering the rooms, imagined voices as I walked up the stairs.
Vann Nath’s expression changed. He said that he understands this and went on to talk at great length about his feelings and memories of those rooms and spaces. I asked him if such emotion could be conveyed through painting without depicting actual scenes of torture? He believes it is possible, but worries that perhaps the public may not fully get the message. I realized that, we had come to a point in our relationship where I had touched on something that perhaps few others have had the opportunity to.
Some artists need a story to paint, narratives inspired by their life. In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge period is a part of everyone’s life. Vann Nath is not telling the story of his life though, just a period of it, his memory of a war and a fear that still haunts him. We may never see a painting about his sickness, his home, his family, etc., for he is a man trapped in a moment.
If he did complete this story and find another subject for his work, it may help ease his pain and find some contentment in his life. So far, these events remain the central theme of his work. At last, there will be a trial of some of the Khmer Rouge. Hopefully this will bring some closure to the Cambodians who suffered such atrocities at the hands of the genocidal regime. However, we cannot know if this will help exorcise the ghosts that continue to haunt Vann Nath.
First and foremost, Vann Nath is a painter. By focusing on the psychological violence in his paintings instead of the apparent physical tortures of the Khmer Rouge, Nath’s new works will bring out the psychological dimensions that are still present in the Cambodian memory today.
